Ceres of Magic, Suwa of Dragons
by Charmkeeper
Summary: Since Prince Fai was three years old he has had only one person by his side, one person to watch him and translate for him, Kurogane. Even as children they faced hardships, but now...something more is coming. AU
1. Preface

A/N: Why can't I go for ten weeks without having a new idea for a story? I keep coming up with AU ideas and then I can't just let them go! No...I have to write them down and let you people read them! ... Not that I mind you people reading them, in fact I like that quite a bit. Well for now I'm up to four stories again...hopefully two of my other ones will be ending soon so it can go down to two stories...

At any rate, this story is even more fairy-tale/mythical than two of the other AU's I've done. And once again I've centered it around some freaky relationship between Yuui and Fai, and Fai and Kurogane... although I'm not sure if I'm going to make this Kuro/Fai or if I'm just going to have it be their 'friendship.' Feel free to drop comments on which you think it should be.

So, enjoy this new fic of mine, read it, and please, review it.

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In the country of Ceres there are many magic users. Magicians, wizards, witches, you name it, they were there. In fact that seemed to be the only kind of people that Ceres held. This was for one reason and one reason only. Non-magical people were illegal. The country had to be 'purified' of the unworthy, and the unworthy were those not blessed by the gods with magic. All those without magic were killed and then buried in mass graves to be forgotten forever.

However, you could not tell this fact from the way the country looked. Farms, towns, cities, castles. People walked, all with happy looks on their faces. The country did not seem to be in turmoil. In fact, it was seemingly peaceful and happy. This was because most people believed that what was being done was right. They believed that non-magical people were either evil, or bad luck. Thus they all had to go.

In fact the only place that this did not seem to be true was at the central castle of the country, Castle Ruval. From within this castle you could hear screaming through the halls and if you followed that sound you would be taken to the throne room, where King Ashura sat on his chair staring down at a family of three. A man, a woman, and a small boy who was no older than three years of age. "No! Go ahead!" The woman put her hands over the ears of the boy as she screamed, "Kill us! But leave him! He has done no wrong!"

"Selfish woman."

"Oh, how can you say that! All of your children have magic, you have no clue what it's like! Have mercy on him, he's just a boy!"

"Yes." The man smirked, "All my children now have magic...but there was one who did not." The woman's face looked horrified as he continued to speak. "He was a twin. One twin had magic, and the other did not. Just like anyone else in the kingdom, he was promptly killed. My children are no different than anyone else."

"I don't believe you!"

"You don't? Well, I'll just have to change that." Ashura beckoned for one of his men to come closer. "Go get Fai."

"But your majesty..."

"But what?"

"He hasn't recovered yet..."

"Even better. Bring him." The guards bowed and left the room, only to return a minute later with a small boy just the same age as the other boy. This princely child was blond with blue eyes, the common boy possessed black hair and red eyes. Perfect opposites. "Fai...these people do not believe that Yuui died because he lacked magic. Would you like to correct them?"

Fai looked to the family. His lip trembled, tears welled up in the bright jewels, and they knew; it was true. "Now that we understand that no one is exempt from this rule, shall we start with the boy?"

"No!" Ashura snapped his fingers. Two guards came up and grabbed the man and woman, another coming to hold the boy still. Another snap and another guard drew his sword coming forward to slash the boy, to kill him.

_"**NO!**"_There was a scream and suddenly there was another body in front of the common child. The prince called Fai could be seen standing in front of him, arms outstretched, tears running down his face. "I can't stand it! Let him go! PLEASE!"

Ashura stood up from his chair, "Fai, you didn't defy me when I killed Yuui. You just stood there, and yet you stand here and cry for a commoner you've never met?!" The king spat. "What are you willing to pay for his life?" Ashura came up to Fai, placing his hands on Fai's face.

The blond shook and shivered from the touch, trying to back out of it, but only succeeding in backing against the person he was protecting. "A-anything! Just don't kill him! Give him to me! I'll take care of him! Please!"

"For a child to take on such a responsibility..." Ashura ran his fingers through Fai's hair. "Fine. I will make him yours. I will grant your wish and his parents wish. For the price of their lives and your spoken words."

"M-my voice?"

"No...your spoken words. You can never speak again. If I found out you have spoken a single word, and I will have him killed immediately. Until then, he'll become yours. Your bodyguard, your knight, you're attendent. He'll be your footman, your butler, whatever you please. Do we have a deal?"

"Ye--" Fai stopped himself and nodded. He didn't know why he wanted to save this boy so much, but after Yuui, he couldn't stand to see someone else his age just die before his eyes.

"All right. He is yours. I'll have him trained." Ashura snapped his fingers and the boy was carried off. "Fai. Go back to your room. I don't think you want to see your pet's parents die."

Fai looked to the man and woman. A sad smile came to his face and his lips moved. They formed the words, 'I'm sorry' but no sound came out. The woman smiled back at him. "You helped us. Don't be sorry."

"Fai. Go." The prince shook at the commanding voice and nodded, quickly running from the chamber followed by the very guards who had brought him here.

At least he had saved one. All the words he would ever speak were well worth the life he had saved.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: For me...this chapter is really long. I suppose it makes up for the pretty short first chapter. At any rate, it's going to be a couple chapters before the plot really takes off. This chapter is really just setting up everything and giving you a ton of information. You need the information since Fai isn't supposed to speak and because this is an AU story.

I'm liking this story so far. It's fun to write, and fun to make Kurogane loyal to Fai...because well, it's funny. To me anyway.

Usually I come up with some creative name for the countries, but this time I decided against it and they are just Ceres (different than I usually spell it) and Suwa.

Lastly, since most of the reviews last chapter said they would prefer Kuro/Fai, I will try to at one point or another make them swing that way towards each other. Although I make it pretty obvious that they already like each other a lot...I think.

Read, review, enjoy.

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Giggling came from the trees as a young man no older than sixteen or seventeen looked around the forest. "Fai! Get your ass down here!" The young man brandished a sword around as if he were going to cut through whomever he was calling to. This was Kurogane. The only non-magical person left in the country of Ceres. Years before the youngest prince of the country, Fai, had paid a hefty price to save this particular man from death. Although Kurogane claimed that no such day existed, he was Fai's bodyguard...or more like a babysitter at this time.

Whistling came now, it seemed to come from all directions, Kurogane listened to the noises and scowled. "Oh no you don't! I am not playing Hide and Seek with you! It'll be sunset soon, and you know what happens when you're not at the castle when the sun sets!"

There was a moaning sound and from a tree about 200 meters away a figure dropped to the ground. The figure began to walk toward Kurogane, weaving in and out of the trees gracefully until, at last, it was right in plain sight. It was a blond boy, about the same age as Kurogane. On his face was a plastered smile that was just as bright as the sapphire in the tiara he wore around his forehead. "Fai! Come here!"

The prince's smile slid off his face and he began to pout, putting his finger to his lips. It was extremely cute, no one but Kurogane could possibly say no to it. "Fai!" The hand dropped and there was a sigh as Fai came forward to Kurogane's side. "Hands." As Kurogane sheathed his own sword Fai pouted even more and held out his hands. Kurogane whaped them with the sheathed sword and Fai flinched.

The prince stuck out his lower lip and held out his left hand for Kurogane. Grudgingly Kurogane placed his hand in Fai's, and very quickly the fingers of Fai's right hand began dance around the Guard's palm in a seemingly random pattern. All the while Fai did this his blue eyes stared into Kurogane's red ones. Every few seconds Kurogane would nod. "Right, right...Kuro-chan?!" Fai nodded. "Where do you get this stuff?!" Fai shrugged and his fingers danced more. "It's _cute_?!" Fai nodded. "Like hell it is!"

Fai had to duck down low to avoid the blow that Kurogane had aimed at him. A very strange sound came from Fai's lips and then the blond bolted out through the trees. "Oh! Don't you _start _Hyuu-ing again! You _know _how much I hate that sound!" The 'babysitter' raced after the boy, through the trees, down a hill, over a bridge, out of the forest and Kurogane grabbed onto the back of Fai's cape just before the boy tried to jump off a cliff. "No suicide attempts today, Prince Fai."

Fai looked over his shoulder at the knight and raised an eyebrow. "Right, right, it would only be suicide for me...you'd just magic yourself somewhere else. Look! The sun's setting! I told you we needed to get back!"

"Hyuu!" Fai held up a hand and spread his fingers far apart, he then put two fingers gently to Kurogane's lips.

Kurogane growled, "Oh, I'm going to regret this..." Fai grinned and Kurogane placed his hand at Fai's, intertwining his fingers with the prince's. Fai giggled as light activated and the two disappeared from the cliff only to reappear just within Castle Ruval's walls. Kurogane held his stomach for a minute, magic transport had never agreed with him...

"You were almost late today Prince Fai."

Fai only smiled and held up his hand before three bright red apples appeared in his hands. He tossed one to each of the guards. He then took Kurogane's hand. His fingers once more beginning to dance across the palm. As the fingers danced, Kurogane spoke, "You are to tell them this...oops, wasn't actually supposed to say that part..." Fai slapped Kurogane's arm with the back of his hand before he continued. "Thank you for letting us go out today. Hope you did not get into any trouble because of it."

"No, the King isn't too worried about you right now Prince...no offense."

More movement, more of Fai's words spoken through Kurogane, "None taken, I am actually glad to not be under his watchful eye. How late is it?"

"The dinner bell hasn't rung yet."

"Hyuu!"

The guards looked at each other. "Hyuu?"

Kurogane growled, "Don't ask. Just be glad you don't have to put up with 'hyuu.'" Kurogane grabbed onto Fai's wrist and dragged the prince off as Fai giggled and waved at the guards.

Kurogane disliked most of the people in the castle. This wasn't because he was treated meanly, or rejected because he didn't have magic, no, in fact most people in the castle and outside didn't know he didn't have magic. No...he disliked these people because of the way they saw Fai.

People saw Fai and saw an idiot. People looked at him, saw his pretty face, saw the grin, and thought that he was a nice boy. Once they spoke to him and discovered that he didn't speak, they saw the face, they saw the grin, and they saw some stupid little child.

Truthfully, Kurogane had no idea why Fai didn't speak. His voice was just fine. His prince could laugh, giggle, whistle, and make that hyuu-ing noise. His vocal cords seemed to be perfect, yet he never uttered a word. Of course the knight had asked Fai why he didn't speak, but all Fai had done was weave some elaborate story of Fai trading his words for Kurogane's life when they were three. Kurogane had never believed this story. While it was true that his very early memories were of that of two people he was sure were his parents, all his coherent memories were of being by Fai, serving Fai, and making sure that the boy didn't trip and break his neck. Besides, even if it were plausible, there was no way that anyone would just trade speaking for a commoners life.

At any rate, no matter what the reason really was, the point was that Fai didn't speak. In all his years of being loyal to the little brat, he had never spoken a word. This combined with his seemingly laid back attitude and grin made people think that he was a dumb kid. Which he wasn't. Kurogane knew that better than anyone else.

Well, if Fai wasn't dumb, then what was he? As much as Kurogane hated to admit it, his prince was probably the most intelligent person in the country of Ceres, if not the most intelligent person in all of this world. Fai understood things that not even the most intelligent scientist did. Astrology? Biology? Arts? History? Magic? Fai was a master of all these and more. The proof of this was that Kurogane would occasionally sit in on Fai's classes and understand none of it until he let Fai dance his fingers across his palm and explain it in a simpler way...which Kurogane still didn't understand for the most part.

If that all by itself wasn't enough for you, then let the fact that Fai had developed his way of talking to Kurogane with complex finger movements, hand gestures, and sounds other than words prove it. It had taken Kurogane two years to learn his 'sign language,' and even now he still occasionally messed up when Fai's fingers moved too fast. For instance 'go outside' could be translated into 'jump off a cliff,' which if Kurogane didn't ask for the request again, he would do. After all, he was only here because Fai kept his mouth shut (hahaha) about him not having magic.

No one else could see Fai's brilliance. No one else saw that Fai was as smart as a whip, kind to beings big and small, and good looking too. All they saw was an idiot child, who just so happened to be the son of the current king.

And because of this, Kurogane did not like them.

The knight sighed as Fai pulled off his cloak and began to change for the dinner hour. As his footman he had to get Fai every article of clothing that the boy would need and to help him dress in it, if Fai ran into complications, which he rarely did.

"Whee whoo." Fai whistled to get Kurogane's attention. Once Kurogane's red gaze met Fai's blue one, the prince held up a single finger. This indicated that the next 'words' would be a question. Fai's large teal bell sleeves slid down his arm as he motioned his hands over his head.

Kurogane shook his head. "No, you don't need a hat." Fai grinned and nodded once, rushing into Kurogane's arms and embraced his footman with a bone-crushing hug. Had Kurogane already forgotten that despite Fai's thin, lanky, and almost girlish body, that he was in fact very strong? Due to the half-scream that he gave out, yes, yes he had. "All right, I get it! You like me! Let go!" At once the command was obeyed as if their roles were reversed.

Outside the castle walls a loud bell was heard as it rung. "That's the dinner bell. Good luck with it."

Fai pouted as he always did when that bell rang. Fai hated meals. They were the times when he was forced to be with his family, which he did not find pleasant. A sigh escaped the wordless lips and from a pocket of his robes Fai pulled a key. He struck the key against his palm three times and then offered it to Kurogane, who took it.

They key was a master key. With it Fai could get anywhere within the castle. The fact that Fai had given it to Kurogane meant that Fai wanted Kurogane to go somewhere, but the three strikes against the palm had not been enough to tell him where. All the three strikes told him was that he was to keep it until they saw each other again. It was unlike Fai to give him the key. Fai treasured that key more than almost anything, and it was even more unlike Fai to not tell him what to do with it.

The blond sighed and pointed downward, then put his hands together and opened them like a butterflies wings. This meant, 'Go guard the downstairs door.'

"Yes Prince Fai." Kurogane bowed from the waist and heard Fai rush past him, making an unhappy sound as he left to go eat dinner.

He still hadn't told him what to do with the key. This being so, Kurogane slipped the key into his pocket and left Fai's chambers, going on down the stairs and to the door that Fai had indicated. The sun had already set, leaving a warm glow on the horizon and for a while, Kurogane watched this glow until it faded away and almost complete darkness took over.

After about a half hour, the glow of an oil lamp came from Fai's room. It was too early for Fai to be back from dinner and thus this only meant that a chambermaid had come and lit the fire so that Fai wouldn't be blind when he came to go to bed.

Kurogane shrugged and looked away from Fai's balcony, leaning back against the door and closing his eyes. No one would try to get in through this door, it only led to the youngest prince's room...even if Fai was smarter than his brothers, and more favored than his brothers, his brothers were still older. From behind he heard the door lock, and knew that dinner must have ended. Everyone of importance would be going to bed now, except for him and the guards...truthfully he could go back to the barracks any time he wanted to, it was just that if he did without Fai's permission...Fai would probably cry because Kurogane had disobeyed him.

Kurogane hated to see Fai cry even if the tears were fake. Tears shouldn't fill eyes such as his.

The sound of a nightingale filled the air and Kurogane opened one eye. There were no nightingales in the castle grounds... He turned his head and Fai waved, grinning. The boy was already in his nightclothes, and he was on his balcony for other people to see! "Prince Fai!" Kurogane hissed out. "Bed!"

Fai frowned held up his hand and whacked his palm three times. "Your key?" Fai nodded. "I have it!" Fai rolled his eyes and repeated the action of slapping his hand. "What?"

"Che." Fai made a chattering noise that indicated annoyance and he pointed down at his feet with a force that made the words Fai wanted to say clear. 'Come here...NOW.'

"The doors have been locked."

Fai sighed and banged his palm against his forehead before slapping his hand three times again. Now Fai's words made sense, 'Use the KEY, Idiot. I did not bring you up to be an idiot Kuro-chan.' Okay maybe the last part wasn't actually in Fai's words, but Kurogane could definitely see his Prince thinking that because he was thinking that, except for the Kuro-chan part, that was all Fai.

"Right...sorry." The red-eyed man turned around and turned the key in the lock and the sound of the click that indicated the door was open was heard. Kurogane slipped in the castle and locked the door behind him. Light footsteps were heard from his leather boots as he climbed up the stairs to the door where Fai was. "What did you want My Prince?"

Kurogane blinked as once those words left his lips hands slapped at his cheeks, just hard enough for it to sting. This was Fai's punishment for Kurogane being stupid, he knew that had to be it. He felt anger rise within him but he didn't do anything about it. This was his master, the person who owned him, it wasn't like it he could strike him back for his punishment.

Fai stuck out his tongue and held out his hand. Kurogane sighed and dropped the key into his Master's palm. Long fingers wrapped around it and the blond held out his other hand. Kurogane placed his hand in Fai's, making Fai smile. "I'm not supposed to be here Fai, tell me what you want."

Fai gave the other a serious look and his fingers practically flew across Kurogane's palm, 'You belong where I tell you that you belong. Not even Father can tell you to go away if I told you to be here. You are...' Kurogane flinched when Fai pressed his fingers down harder to emphasize the next word. 'Mine.'

"I know."

Fai grinned, his finger patterns becoming lighter now. 'Every once in a while you need to be reminded.'

"Yeah, yeah, I'm such an disobedient child."

'You are, Kuro-pyon.' Even though you couldn't hear his voice, you knew from the grin on his face that Fai was being sarcastic.

"How the hell to you even pronounce that?!" He looked to Fai's lips and the boy made motions with them. "Pyon..." Fai nodded merrily. "I am not Kuro-pyon!"

"Shh!" Fai harshly used the sound to tell Kurogane to be more quiet.

"Right...so what do you want Fai?" Once these words left his lips he gasped as Fai began to unbutton his jacket and then pulled the object of clothing off forcibly. The prince then ducked down and almost pulled Kurogane off his feet by pulling off his boots and discarding them to one side. "Prince!?"

Fai stood to his feet and leaned against Kurogane his hands gripping to the shirt that lay beneath the jacket. The blond's fingers tapped against the man's chest. 'Sleep by me tonight.'

Kurogane frowned, "Is something wrong?"

Fai buried his head into Kurogane's shirt and the fingers tapped again. It was harder for Kurogane to read what Fai was saying when he didn't tap against his palm, but the words were simple enough, 'May Third.'

Kurogane's eyes widened, how could he have been so stupid!? How could he have been so forgetful? May third... "Prince Yuui..." Kurogane wrapped his arms around "Fai's" shoulders. Fai had always kept Kurogane's deepest secret, the fact that he had no magic. Because of this, Kurogane had wanted to keep Fai's deepest secret as well, it had taken almost a year of pestering the prince, but at last, two years ago, Fai had told him.

Fai wasn't Fai at all. Fai was really the real Fai's brother Yuui. Seventeen years ago the country of Ceres had been given twin princes. Fai and Yuui. Fai was the King's favorite son, however Fai also had no magic. The twins had figured this out long before their elders had. Fai knew that if he was Fai, the king would have trouble killing him, he also knew that the king would abuse Yuui because Yuui even though he was Ashura's least favorite son, had magic, and thus got to live.

So Fai had suggested that they trade names. So Fai would become Yuui, and Yuui would become Fai. Fai thought it logical, his Father wouldn't be put in pain by his death, and the real Yuui would have an easier life. They were identical so no one would figure it out, and they were so young that eventually "Fai" would forget that he had ever been Yuui.

The only flaw had been that Fai had never forgotten that he was Yuui.

"Prince Yuui, I'm so sorry, I forgot, I should have done something to help you forget about tomorrow!" Tomorrow, May Third was the day that the real Fai had died with a smile on his face. It was also the living prince's true birthday. The real Yuui had been born five minutes to midnight on May Third. The real Fai had been born five minutes after midnight on May Fourth.

But since Yuui had become Fai, he now celebrated his birthday a day late.

His true identity. That was Fai's greatest secret, and Kurogane had kept it just as well as Fai had kept Kurogane's.

Fai shook his head, his fingers moved. 'There is nothing you could have done Kuro-chu. Just sleep by me. Comfort me. Please, do not leave me, you are all I have.'

"That's not true..."

'Yes it is. Don't argue. Bed. I am tired.'

"Yes Prince Yuui."

'Stop calling me that. I hate that name. It should have died.'

"I'm sorry Fai." Kurogane took Fai's hand gently and led the prince off to the bed that was suited for someone of his stature.

Fai forced a smile onto his face and pulled Kurogane onto the bed with him. 'You should sleep with me like this every night...'

"The people in the barracks would go nuts with rumours!"

Fai giggled, Kurogane was unsure if the giggle was genuine, or just to humor Kurogane. 'You do not think they already have their rumours? If you think their minds are pure in regards to our relationship, you are a fool. Turn off the oil lamp.' As Fai cuddled close to his servant, Kurogane twisted his body so that his fingers could reach and turn the knob on the lamp so that the room filled with darkness.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I was so sure I had a ton of stuff to say...oh, the language that Fai uses to speak to Kurogane through pressing his fingers on his palm? Only Kurogane can understand that. And Ceres does have a normal sign language, but Fai wasn't sure about that being 'spoken words' when he was younger so he just came up with another language to speak to only one person who could speak for him.

Also in his language, there are no contractions. So words that would normally be 'don't' or 'I'll,' are 'do not' and 'I will.'

Read, review, enjoy.

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"So where were you last night Kurogane? You never came back to the barracks." A few of the people in the same barracks as Kurogane followed the servant as he searched for one of the superiors.

"I was doing something for Fai."

The men looked at each other. "Oh, so we're now on a first name basis with the prince?"

There was a pause, "What the hell?! I've been able to call him by just his name since we were six years old!"

"Sure..."

Kurogane rolled his eyes and ignored the men as he searched through the camp. "Sir!" He finally caught up with one of the people who could help him.

"Yes?" The man raised an eyebrow at his underling, looking him up and down as if he were a piece of meat or something. "Why aren't you out at practice?"

"Because I want twenty of my stored up gold pieces and the morning off."

"I don't know...you're gone so much as it is..." After all, he was Fai's servant, the prince dragged him off early quite a bit.

"Oh don't be a stiff!" Another superior came up and slapped the first one on his back. "Give it to him. He asks for the same thing every year."

"He does?"

"Sure does! Although he usually asks for it over a week before his beloved Prince's birthday rather than just a day before."

"Tsk." Kurogane wrinkled his nose, folded his arms, and looked away. "I got a little sidetracked this year, and I have to buy Prince Fai a gift, it's not like I want to!" Fai had never exactly told Kurogane that he had to buy him something, but the way that Fai's face lit up when he saw that Kurogane had bothered to shell out money for him...it made it worth it. Besides, the king did require that he get Fai a gift at least once a year, and what better day than his birthday?

The second superior laughed and handed Kurogane the money that he had requested. "Buy him something nice, but not so nice that he already has it. Remember, he is the king's favorite child." Although this had never been said outloud, the fact that the King showered Fai with anything he might think for a fraction of a second that he wanted, and the fact that Fai had his own guard unlike the other children made it pretty clear that for whatever reason, Fai was favored.

"Yeah, yeah, you tell me the same thing every year."

"Because it's true. You've got a really cushy job, to be Prince Fai's servant."

Kurogane snorted. "It's not as cushy as it looks. That guy can be a handful, even though he's almost full grown." Kurogane could hear the guard's laugh as he turned and walked away. He was also thankful that the other kids in his barracks had remained behind with their superiors.

Once he was out in the town that lay just outside the castle he went into the bakery and paid the baker whole two gold pieces to have a small chocolate cream cake made for the blond he served. It would be ready for him to pick up in an hour or so. Normally, a cake the size that he had ordered would only cost a silver piece, but the baker had a lot to do, so Kurogane had bribed him with quite a bit of extra money for him to make his cake first.

While he waited or the cake to be made Kurogane looked around the rest of the town for something else to buy Fai. While the prince would gladly let his face go happy at the sight of the cake, take it, force a piece of it down Kurogane's throat and be done with it, Kurogane also wanted to get Fai something that would last longer than the cake would. At least something that would last until Fai's next birthday.

Kurogane found this something in the pawn shop. A pendant that doubled as a music box. The outside was gold and bejeweled with low-grade sapphires. The inside On the inside there was a machine that made the music play and through the glass you could watch the mechanism move as the music played. The song was obviously a little bit slow, but Kurogane was pretty sure that Fai would like it. "How much is this?"

"Ahh, buying for your sweetheart?"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow. "Uh no. How much?"

"Fifteen gold pieces." That was a complete ripoff, but still Kurogane pulled out the coins and handed them over. He then turned and went to leave the shop, staring at the pendant as he left. It was perfect for his Prince.

He picked up his cake and placed the pendant on top of it before closing the box and setting it under his arm as he walked back to Castle Ruval.

When he reached the edge of the barraks grounds a kid from his barracks ran up to him. "Prince Fai is looking for you."

"He doesn't talk, how do you know he's looking for me?"

"Who else would he be here for?"

As much as Kurogane hated to admit it, the kid had a point. "Where is he?"

"Out by the training field."

Kurogane rushed out that way and sure enough there Fai sat, looking somewhat put off as he watched other people train with wooden swords. "Fai?"

The prince looked up, smiled brightly, and stood to his feet holding out his hand. When Kurogane placed one of his hands in Fai's the blond began to 'speak' in his special way. 'Good afternoon Kuro-tan. I have been looking for you.'

"Yeah, about that...I was out."

'Out where?'

"In town."

'You went shopping? You? Are you ill?' Fai brought his hand to Kurogane's forehead as if to check him for a fever.

Kurogane slapped the hand away and grabbed his Master's hand. "Not here Prince Fai. Come with me." For what seemed to be the first time Fai noticed the box that Kurogane was holding and stared at it. "Come on." A small yank on Fai's arm was enough to get the blond to follow him up toward the castle and to his room.

Once inside he made Fai sit down on his bed and then, and only then did he shove the box out toward Fai's arms. "Happy birthday Prince Yuui."

Fai blinked, frowned, took the box, and motioned for Kurogane to come closer. When the servant obeyed Fai whacked him one on the shoulder and grabbed his hand. 'Do not call me Yuui!' There was a long pause. 'But thank you.'

Kurogane leaned back and rubbed his shoulder as Fai opened the box. He waited for it. That moment in which Fai's face would become truly happy, truly pleased with him. It didn't come. The only thing Fai did was look at the cake and the pendant that was attached and then at long last he looked up at Kurogane and held out his hand. He gripped to Kurogane's hand and then spelled out the sentence, 'Kuro-chu will make a woman very happy someday.'

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

'This is very romantic. I wasn't sure if it was a birthday present or a strange way of proposing.'

"You and your jokes! Do you like it?!"

'Yes. More than anything.' Now that moment came. Fai's face lit up and he placed his hands to Kurogane's face showing the man a smile so bright that it forced his eyes to close.

"Well then eat some of it!"

Fai's laugh filled the room as one of Fai's hands slipped down to Kurogane's again so that he could speak if needed and the other took the pendent off the cake. 'This is lovely. Thank you.' The blond licked off the frosting that had gotten on it and then slipped the chain over his head. 'I will be sure to wear it forever.'

"What a stupid thing to say."

Fai frowned and caused Kurogane to flinch by gripping so tightly to his hand that you could literally hear his bones crunch together. Although Fai made it clear that he liked his Servant quite a bit, he did not hesitate to punish him if Fai felt the need to. 'Go get a knife and a plate from the set Father gave me two years ago.'

Yes, Fai had practically everything in this room of his. All of it stacked away on shelf among shelf, hardly ever touched. Because truly Fai was a fairly simple person, and didn't want fancy things with the small exception of things he could wear. Fai liked to look good, and Fai liked to eat well, but that was it. All the other things that littered his shelves, such as the expensive foreign trinkets, Fai would love to sell or give away, if his father would allow such a thing. Which he didn't.

"Here." Fai smiled to Kurogane taking the plates, cutting a good sized piece of the cake, and then handing the plate and cake to Kurogane. "My prince...you know I don't like too much sweets." Fai sighed, cut the piece in half, took the other half off of it and shoved it into Kurogane's arms, indicating that Kurogane was to eat that, even if it put him in diabetic coma.

The half that Fai had cut off did not go back into the box with the rest of the cake, instead Fai stood to his feet, taking small nibbles of the cake as he went to the window and looked out of it, gazing out past the town and to the forest.

Unlike Fai, Kurogane ate the cake with a fork, and sat down on the floor to do it. He noticed Fai's actions and knew what Fai would want next. Fai hated to be inside these castle walls. Fai wasn't free that way. Fai liked to go out to the plains or the forest, to wander and look. However, while Fai could use magic to get them back in, if he used magic to get out, his father would find out and then Fai wouldn't be able to get out ever again.

Usually they asked the guards to let them out, and they would, provided Fai brought them something back, like fresh apples. Today, it was going to be too much hassle to ask, especially with Fai's false birthday tomorrow. "You want to go out, don't you?" From the windowsill Kurogane saw Fai nod, and the man sighed. "Fine. After I finish I'll sneak you out myself."

Fai's hand paused, stopping the process of him eating the cake he held. He looked from the window to Kurogane, the look on his face plain enough that he didn't need words or motions to convey them. The prince was asking if Kurogane was serious, or just humouring him for the moment. "Yes, I will take you." Fai grinned and bowed his head, before looking out the window once more, taking a bite out of the cake.

Kurogane forced the rest of his half-slice down his throat and pushed the plate and fork behind him. That been more than enough sugar to last him a week, let alone to last him the five minutes it had taken him to eat it. Kurogane had never understood how anyone could stand eating that much sugar in that much substance at once, but what he did understand was that Fai could eat that much sugar in two seconds, and still be able to take in more. The very thought of eating more sugar made his stomach lurch in displeasure.

"You done?" Fai looked away from the window again and held up his hands to show that he held nothing in them. The cake completely devoured. "I mean you don't want anymore." Fai nodded. "You sure?" Another nod. "All right. Come on. We only have about four hours before we have to be back here."

The pair quickly ran from the room, out of the castle, and into the courtyard. Fai followed Kurogane closely as they crept around the castle walls and waited by the gates for ten minutes until the guards looked away and they could slip through the bars that even a 300 pound man could slip through.

They waited until they were a good quarter mile away from these gates before Kurogane spoke. "You want to go to the forest right?" He held out his hand for Fai to take.

Fai accepted and hugged his servants forearm to his chest and after a minute, tickled the palm. Kurogane twitched at the abuse of his trust and the tingling sensation the tickles gave him. "Fai!"

Fai's giggled and stopped his fingers pressing down against the palm in the lettered patterns. 'Yes. The forest. We can play.'

"Play what?"

'Hide and seek. You have to count to a hundred.'

Kurogane opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it again. "Fine. We'll play."

"Hyuu!" Kurogane had to stop as Fai hugged him tightly and then they continued on their way. From the window, the forest didn't look like it was very far away, but in actuality it was about an hour by foot. It truly was much easier to just have Fai use his magic to get them to the forest in a quick and timely manner, but since magic transport made Kurogane feel sick, Fai only used it to get back if they were late on getting there, like they had been yesterday.

So they walked. After about the hour that was expected, they got to the edge of the forest and Fai turned, placing his hands at Kurogane's shoulders and pushing him against a tree, a grin on his face. "Yeah, yeah, count to a hundred and come find you. And no peeking." Fai nodded and when Kurogane closed his eyes Fai's hands left his shoulders, and Fai's footsteps could be heard as the youngest prince ran off to hide.

Kurogane didn't really count to a hundred. He knew how, but he never did. He just stood there in his own thoughts until he knew that Fai had been given enough time to hide and then he went after him. When Kurogane had a hard time of finding him, Fai would give him hints, whistling, or mimicking bird sounds so that Kurogane would know what direction to go to. After all, the forest was huge, it might take him hours to find a single person.

The servant opened his eyes at last and began to look through the forest, knowing that the slippery and rabbit-footed Fai must've gone much deeper into the forest to hide.

After what seemed like forever Kurogane heard some movement from his left and he smirked, instantly running off in that direction. He knew, just knew that Fai was that way. Sure enough he was right, but Fai wasn't hiding. Fai was running. Fai's gaze caught his and he grabbed onto the Knights wrist, dragging him off. "Prince? What's wrong?!"

Fai wouldn't stop running, but as they ran, he spelled out two words very slowly. 'D-r-a-g-o-n-s. R-u-n.'

"Dragons?" Kurogane's eyes widened. Dragons only came from the country of Suwa. They were magical beings, born in pairs of twins, and their magic far exceeded that of most humans. While most people from other worlds thought of dragons as scaly creatures that roamed the skies, the people of this world knew that when they looked that way...it was only magic.

"You're fast aren't you?" A figure dropped in front of the pair and they were forced to stop. It was a dragon all right. Black hair and yellow cat-like eyes. Ears pointed like that of an elf, and if you looked to the hands, you saw that they weren't quite normal. They were almost clawed with the two inch long, sharpened nails that they had. "But you can't run forever. We've been looking for you, you won't escape." The dragon reached out toward Fai, it's talon-like nails brushing against the blond's face.

Kurogane pulled back on Fai's arm, turning the prince around to go the other way, but there was the first dragon's twin. Different hair style, but the rest was all the same. "Don't be a fool." The first dragon said. "Stop running."

Kurogane pushed Fai behind him, drawing out his sword. 'Kuro...no. Do not!' He felt Fai spell out. 'You are not a match!'

"Fai. Run. I'll hold them off."

The first dragon laughed yet again. The second dragon just stared at them emotionlessly. "You? A non-magical being? Hold us off? Be realistic. We don't want to harm you, or even your prince over there, just hand him over."

Kurogane felt the familiar fingers of Fai grip at his wrist, but he pulled it away. "Fai! Go!" He swung the sword now, aiming toward the first and more dangerous looking dragon.

The dragon sighed, avoiding the blow with ease. "I said I didn't want to hurt you, but if you leave me no other choice..."

In one swooshing motion claws raked through Kurogane's chest. Kurogane saw the blood before he felt the pain, for a moment he stared at it and then as if in slow motion he fell to the ground. A glass-shattering scream filled the air. "KUROGANE!" The voice was familiar, yet not, to Kurogane, and as he turned his head he realized who had spoken.

Fai. It had been Fai's voice breaking through the air. He had spoken. For the first time in all the time Kurogane had known he had spoken a word. His name. Even so, this was not what filled Kurogane's mind.

Fai had not run...He didn't run, even now. He just stood there tears running silently down his face, his blue eyes mixed with terror and sorrow. Fai was crying, really crying. These tears weren't just the crocodile tears that his prince cried to get Kurogane to do something. For some reason or another, Fai was truly upset. Kurogane realized that Fai was crying because of him.

One last thought filled his mind as his senses left him. He'd really done it this time. He'd really made Fai cry. The one thing he'd promise to never do. What a horrible servant he was.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: The next couple of chapters are going to sound really bad as you read them. This one not as much as the next one, but still. I wrote these two chapters on my writers block and urg...makes them sound horrible to me.

Anyway, the plot's really taking off now and I have all the events planned except for the very ending, which I will get to. I really hope I get back on track with this story soon.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

_The dream that filled Kurogane's mind was very feverish, it seemed real, but from the actions of the people within it, he knew it wasn't. It was just a dream. It had to be. "Stop it!"The less dangerous looking dragon screamed. He stood next to Kurogane and as Kurogane gazed he saw the_ _droplets of blood drop from his face onto the ground where Kurogane lay. "I healed him! Stop hurting Kamui!"_

_"Did you really?" A cold voice full of hatred reached Kurogane's ears. It was the same voice that had screamed his name before the dream had begun. A thud was heard and Kurogane turned his head. Fai. His prince stood in front of the dragon that had harmed him. The thud was now obviously the dragon, identified in his dream as 'Kamui,' hitting the ground. As Kurogane stared he found himself afraid of his own prince, ice-blue eyes that were so full of hate and anger. The wounds on the two dragons obviously caused by the blue lightning that continuously sparked from Fai's fingertips._

_Kurogane was glad this was a dream._

_"Yes! You proved that you're stronger than us when provoked! Look! He's okay! Just listen to us!" _

_Fai's nodded softly, raising a finger to indicate he wanted patience. His eyes turned to Kurogane and the hate lessened, but sorrow came up in them as he came forward sitting on his knees in front of him and setting on hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Kurogane. When I took on your life I promised that I would protect you...I failed. I'm sorry."_

_The prince sighed and placed two fingers to Kurogane's forehead. "Sleep now. Even being healed, it takes a lot of energy out of you. I hope you don't remember what I did..."_

The moment that Kurogane was aware that he was awake he found himself in a bone-shattering embrace. This was the first thing he felt. The moment after pain ran through his body the first sounds reached his ears, sobs. The first thing he smelled was salt mixed with the scent of clean hair. The first thing he tasted was the aftertaste of a potion that had obviously been shoved down his throat. The first thing he saw was silken, gold strands that he knew to be Fai's hair.

After the pain of the hug subsided he focused on the sobs. The servant knew that the sounds had to be coming from Fai, but why was he crying? Yes, he'd been hurt, but even if Fai truly did care about Kurogane's life, he was okay now, why was he still crying? "My prince?" He saw Fai look up at him, and Kurogane tried to determine whether the tears and sobs were real or not. A trembling lower lip, his face contorted into a depressed pose, sobs loud, but not dramatically so, tears flowing at a slow pace. It was real. "Why are you crying?"

Fai reached out and took Kurogane's hand, bringing it to his face and nuzzling his damp cheek against the palm. After a good minute of this he turned his head and placed his lips against the palm, kissing it. After both of these things were done the prince placed shaky fingers against the palm and spelled out his words. 'You are all right. I was so worried. I am so glad that you are okay.' Fai brought the hand to his face again and rubbed his cheek against it, his blue eyes staring intently at Kurogane's expression.

"Forget about me, are you okay? The dragons..."

Gentle presses of Fai's fingers, his princes words almost confused him for it hard to tell what he was spelling with one hand was being nuzzled and the other spelled upon, 'Gone. For now. We made a deal. We are in my room again after all I doubt that they would follow us here.'

"What deal?!"

'I'll tell you later. For now, just be mine.'

"I've always been yours!"

A dark, sad chuckle left Fai's lips, and he kissed Kurogane's palm again. 'Not back there. You disobeyed me. I should have you killed for doing that to me, trying to leave me. I will not though. I love you far too much. How do you feel?'

"I feel fine, and it's bad to get such an attachment to your servants Prince Fai. Someday I won't be here. I may be yours, but I'm a non-magical being, and you're not. You'll far outlive me."

'You are not allowed.' Fai spelled out his tears and sobs dying away at last. His gaze hardened and was almost a glare as he stared at the swordsman. 'You must stay with me forever. Do you understand?'

Kurogane wanted to yell at his prince, to tell him to get such delusions of forever out of his mind, but he knew that right now, he was not to argue with Fai about anything. "Yes."

'Good.' Fai leaned up closer to Kurogane almost so close that Kurogane was uncomfortable with it, but before anything else could be said, done, thought, a loud bell rung out over the castle. The dinner bell. Fai pulled away quickly, as if something had just occurred to him. The blond quickly took Kurogane's hand. 'Stay here, I'll be up after dinner and I'll tell you about earlier.'

"All right." The prince quickly slid off the bed and ran out the door leaving Kurogane to wonder what would have happened if that bell hadn't rung just then.

He waited until Fai came back, sat on the edge of his bed and took his hand so that he could 'listen' to him. He listened and he watched Fai. At last Fai finished showing him a new item he had come to possess and had finished telling him the story of how the dragons had not only left them alone, but had healed Kurogane before they left.

"They seriously gave you a single dragon's egg?" Kurogane looked at the item in Fai's hands. The egg looked like he would imagine Fai to look if Fai were an egg. Beautifully crafted into the perfect egg-shape and the swirling colors of blue and white. Like it had literally been made for his prince.

Fai nodded and held out a hand for Kurogane's. 'They said that I was 'the bridge.' However, they did not explain what this bridge meant. They just told me to sleep with this by my side and that it should hatch really soon. I agreed to it as long as they healed you.'

Kurogane could sense a lie from a mile away and in Fai's words there had been a lie, but he did not comment on it, if Fai wanted to lie to him, that was fine with Kurogane. "You know, looking at dragons, you wouldn't think they would be born from eggs..."

'No, I suppose not. They seem to be mammals, but I guess they really aren't.'

"Or maybe they're like the platypus."

Fai giggled. 'You know, I think I have a book on one of my shelves. Would you please look?' It took Kurogane a full five minutes, but at last he sat down, handing a leather bound book to Fai.

The blond sat the egg in his lap and began to flip through page after page of text until at last he stopped about halfway through. His eyes glided down the page and then he turned the book around. 'Read.'

Kurogane obeyed. The page did in fact speak of the dragons of Suwa. They were a race that lived for hundreds of years. Every dragon was born with an opposite star, or a twin. After being born they stayed in an egg-like shell for two years or until they had contact with their opposite star. Whichever came last. Sometimes the dragon twins were really related, sometimes they weren't, so some newly hatched dragons were truly older than dragons who had been walking the earth for some time. It all depended on when they got to their twin.

Then after they hatched they were with that twin almost constantly, living, breathing, existing, as if they were soul mates... in fact that was often how it worked, each dragon had its opposite star and they kept with that person, no one else. Perhaps this was also why not many dragons were born...

"So, why would they give you an egg if this is true?"

Fai shrugged, indicating that the prince had no idea. The prince looked to the door and tilted his head. Downstairs the sound of the guards locking the doors to the outside could be heard. Fai took Kurogane's hand. 'You should go now. Before they lock all the doors.'

"Right. Two nights away from the barracks and those kids will tie me to a chair until I say we're lovers." Fai's melodious laugh filled the room and he waved Kurogane off.

As the servant went on out the lower doors he looked up to where Fai's balcony and window were. The light was out. His prince had gone to sleep.

* * *

Fai lay in bed very afraid. No, his father hadn't mentioned a single thing about not only the name he'd screamed when Kurogane had been harmed, but all the curses and yells and the entire speech that had filled the forest air after Kurogane had passed out.

Indeed, he had spoken many, many words today, and just one was enough to get his servant and silver lining in life killed. The deal was that if Ashura _learned_ of any word spoken, but the dragons had heard him and although he didn't think the dragons would say anything on purpose, it was possible.

His words had been worth it, he had saved Kurogane, but how long would that last? How long would it be until Ashura somehow magically knew? How long until Kurogane would be killed? How long until the fact that he had almost killed two dragons because of his love for this servant became meaningless?

Not only that, but Kurogane was his sanity. Without Kurogane Fai felt his life to be meaningless. Without his servant, he easily lost control of the abnormally powerful magic his body had come to possess over the years. The magic took over his mind and made him do things that made him want to throw up at the very thought of doing them now.

The rain of blood that he had caused filled his mind as he remembered. The younger one, Subaru, had been first. He had grabbed onto him and just raked through him, but because he had not actually harmed Kurogane...it hadn't been too bad, but he couldn't even remember all the horrible spells he'd cast to hurt Kamui. To try and kill him in slow agonizing pain. It had not even occured to him to try and heal the non-magical being. Only the thought of hurting those who had hurt him had occupied his mind...

What would he do if Kurogane really died? Would he kill his father? Would it stop at that? Fai had to question. He'd always known that if anything happened to Kurogane that something horrible would happen because he was so attached to the man, but he had never imagined it to be so horrifying to look back on.

And then Kurogane's fearful eyes after Subaru had healed him. It made him want to fall apart. His precious person...his only precious person was now deathly afraid of him...

Fai's fingers left the egg and fumbled about his bed clothes until he found the music box on a chain that Kurogane had given him. His hands gripped to it tightly, the blond's body curling up into a ball as guilt ate away at him and he wished that he had told Kurogane to stay, no matter what the rumours would be...after all, he wished the rumours were true.

He clicked the music box open and listened to it's melody. Tears ran down his face and his entire body shook. Only one thought crossing his mind over and over again as he tried to sleep, _'Kurogane, please don't leave me...'_

* * *

_Kurogane had been running in his dream when Fai appeared in front of him, dressed in his light blue robes and sapphire tiara. "Prince Fai?"Of course, Fai hadn't said anything at all, he had just looked up at Kurogane with a look of complete and utter depression. His hand thrust straight out in front of him, begging for Kurogane to hold him..._

Kurogane sat up in bed. He felt it. He felt that there was something wrong with Fai. He didn't think it was physical, he wasn't bleeding or bruised, but he knew, just knew that something was affecting him emotionally, and it wasn't the fact that it was his brother's birthday.

"Hey, where are you going Kurogane?" One of his bunkmates mumbled as they watched him, still half asleep.

"To find Prince Fai." The young man pulled on his boots, grabbed his beloved sword from the wall and went to the door.

"Whudarwe supposed to tell the superiors?"

"That I'm with Fai." Before anyone could say anything more the servant quickly left the barracks and ran out toward the castle. The sky looked like it was going to rain, and it was very early in the morning, only five a.m. or so, but still Kurogane went. He couldn't explain it, but he knew that something was distressing his master.

"Prince Fai!" Kurogane called up to the balcony when he got to the door that led up to his room, he knew it was still locked, it was far too early for anyone to have gone around and unlocked them. "The door!"

He waited patiently and after a minute Fai came out onto the balcony and threw him the master key. "Here. Open the door, Kid, just don't wake up the whole castle."

Kurogane caught the key, "Tha--" Wait a moment. Fai had spoken. Words. He had said words and Kurogane couldn't tell himself that he hadn't, like he'd been able to yesterday when he thought he heard Fai scream his name... This was no dream, no fantasy of his want to hear Fai's voice, that had been real!

He was really worried now. He thrust the key into the lock and unlocked the door, rushing up to the room where Fai slept. Throwing the door open he ran in. "Prince--!"

"My, you're loud." The person he was face to face with most certainly looked almost exactly like Fai, but it couldn't be Fai. Why? Well the answer was quite simple really. The person he was facing was a dragon.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah..." This seemed to be all that Kurogane could say as he lifted a finger and pointed at the dragon, why did it look like Fai? Had it eaten Fai?

"Hyuu!" It wasn't Fai's usual whistle, but Kurogane's head snapped toward Fai's bed and there the boy sat. No pointed ears, and body seemingly not eaten. The prince slapped his palm three times and Kurogane took the long way around the dragon that looked like Fai and gave the key to his prince.

"Fai, what's going on?"

"I'm his opposite star, that's what."

"Is your name Fai?" Kurogane glared at the dragon as he sat on the edge of the bed in an overly protective manner, going so far as to wrap his arms around Fai's shoulder and pull him a little closer.

"If we want to go into deep details...yes, it is, but I would much rather you call me Yuui." The dragon bowed. "I am Yuui of Suwa, and I have been waiting a long time for my opposite star. Almost fifteen years I think." Kurogane squinted his eyes a little bit and sure enough, 'Yuui' looked a little bit younger than his prince did, not enough to make a definite difference, but younger nonetheless.

"Why Yuui?"

"Hm?" The dragon laughed as he came up out of his bow. "Well, wasn't that Prince Fai's twins name? I can't say for sure that I am the reincarnation of his old twin or anything of the sort, but even if I'm not why not have that name? It suits the situation."

Yuui lifted up his hand and looked at the claws on the ends of his fingers. "You know, I never thought not being in that shell would be so...free." He smiled a smile that could easily match Fai's own. "I'm so glad that they figured out my opposite star wasn't another dragon! And of course, I'm thankful to you as well Fai, for being willing to get me out."

Kurogane looked down at his prince. Fai's face wasn't upset, it wasn't happy, it wasn't even angry. It was completely blank. Obviously, Fai had no idea what to make of this situation. Perhaps that had been the distress that had caused Kurogane to come here so quickly. "Is something wrong Fai?"

Gently, Fai shook his head turning his face into Kurogane's chest, his fingers tapping against his shoulder slowly, 'I do not know what to do Kuro-chan. Help me.'

"Hey! You're confusing him, why are you here?"

Yuui made a sound of confusion and clicked his tongue. "Why am I here? I'm here because I belong by Fai's side! And just who are you anyway?!"

"Kurogane. I'm Prince Fai's servant and translator. You should go, before you harm him anymore!" Kurogane realized how much this must hurt Fai's heart. He knew that even a mirror could remind Fai that there was supposed to be a person who looked just like him, but now a person here who moved of their own free will and yet also had the same face. It had to hurt Fai to even look at the person with that alone, but the person calling themself Yuui made it hurt even more. Kurogane knew it did, because he knew Fai.

"Go?! I'm not going anywhere!"

Fai whistled to get Kurogane's attention, 'Tell him that he needs to make himself not be seen. People will surely be waking up soon and...'

"Right, if 'Yuui' were seen, then it would cause a lot of problems." Kurogane looked to the dragon, glared, but repeated Fai's order.

"Is that all you want from me Fai?" Yuui's face slipped from a frown to a grin as his gaze fell fell from Kurogane to the prince. "Sure, if you ask for it, I'll do it."

Fai nodded and pushed himself out of Kurogane's embrace, taking his hand this time, 'Kuro-pon. Please go downstairs and tell Father, I'll be down for breakfast soon, then come back up.'

That's right, Fai's real birthday may have been yesterday, but it was celebrated today which meant that Ashura expected Fai downstairs for the celebrations at any moment. "Yes my Prince." Kurogane stood up, once again took the long way around Yuui the dragon and slipped out of the room.

He wasn't completely confidant about leaving Fai in that room alone with Yuui, but he trusted Fai to pull himself together and take charge of the situation.

All he could do about Yuui was hope that he didn't shatter Fai's soul before Kurogane got back up there.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, I had to read through this chapter twice to get it to be anywhere close to being decent, but the next chapters should be better, since I do think I'm finally out of this little rut I've been in. This chapter is shorter than I thought it would be, but it more than meets my minimum requirements. Also, this chapter doesn't really move the plot forward much at all, but the next one makes up for it...I think.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

It had been a couple days since the egg had 'hatched' and they had met the dragon who called himself Yuui. Yuui was a typical dragon, he refused to leave Fai's side for any reason and hated anyone else who got near the youngest prince of Ceres. This obviously made Kurogane the most hated person in Yuui's life. No one else was nearly as close to Fai emotionally or physically than Kurogane...and Yuui hated it.

Kurogane couldn't say that he was fond of Yuui in return. The blond dragon was wild, inconsiderate, and snobbish, unless you were Fai. Even if you were Fai you found annoyances of your own. One of these annoyances being his constant cling, as if he were a magnet attracted to his opposite force.

Even when Fai had to go about other people Yuui clinged. They had told him from before the first time they left the room that Yuui needed to make himself unseen. Fai and Kurogane had obviously meant that Yuui should hide in the closet, or stay in the room, but no this is not at all what Yuui had done. Yuui had just shrugged and magically changed his form.

This was the form was the most basic magic trick a dragon could preform, becoming that cliche shape of a lizard with wings. However, Yuui was small and golden, and able to make himself look like he was a mere piece of jewelry that Fai wore. More often than not he wrapped around Fai's arm, pretending to be an armlet. This worked quite well, for no one bothered to ask where Fai had gotten the armlet from, for Fai had many things hidden in his room.

Despite the annoyance this often brought to Kurogane and through Kurogane assumably Fai, this seemed to be one of only two magical tricks that Yuui knew. One was the 'dragon' form, the other one was teleportation. Although Kurogane was already utterly annoyed by the new arrival to their castle, he knew that if Yuui knew as much magic as Fai did, life would be a living hell.

Kurogane's hand twisted the doorknob and began up to Fai's room. He knew the prince as his new 'pet' would still be in Fai's lessons, but he had nothing else to do and he knew that if he was there when Fai got back. His training was done, Fai had not given him any other assignments, and neither had his superiors. Besides, being in Fai's room when the prince got back from lessons might help improve Fai's quickly plummeting mood just a little.

"Hello Servant."

Kurogane jumped sky high when a clawed hand placed itself on his shoulder and a voice spoke to him from behind. "Yuui!" He yelled automatically, although the voice that had spoken was not anywhere close to being Yuui's voice. It sounded like something Yuui would say and the manner of appearing behind him and startling him was just the sort of prank that Yuui would pull.

The voice that did not belong to Yuui sounded now confused as it spoke, "Yuui? So the egg...it hatched for your prince?"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow, he knew that voice. He'd heard it once before. "Yeah. You expected it to not hatch for him?"

"A little bit." Kurogane turned around to see the dragons from the other day, in his dream he remembered one of them being called Kamui. "We've been looking for that egg's star for a very long time. Also, a human..." The one shook his head. "That ever so rarely happens, and usually only when Suwa is in trouble. Suwa's not in trouble," The one bit his lip, "At least, not as far as we know."

Kurogane frowned and the more quiet dragon giggled, coming forward and wrapping his arm around Kurogane's arm in a friendly, unhostile manner. "Come on..." He whispered. "We won't hurt you. We'll explain what we explained to the prince, and wait for him and the dragon you called Yuui."

"You promise?" The two dragons nodded simletaniously and somehow Kurogane felt that he could trust them.

As they went up toward Fai's room Kurogane noticed something that was different about them. Their faces were different. Not that they didn't look like they had when they last met, but there were scratches and cuts on both of them, as if they'd come off worse in a fight. "What happened to your faces?" No matter who he was speaking to, Kurogane would be as blunt as ever.

They looked at him surprised. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

The pair shrugged it off. "Nevermind, he did say that he didn't want you to, and you are awfully loyal."

"So..." Kurogane said very slowly as he opened the door to Fai's bedroom. "A dragon has had a human opposite star before?"

"Yes." The instantly went to the window and sat on its sill as if they didn't like being within the stone walls and if they had to, would be as close to the outdoors as humanly, or dragonly, possible. "Your prince in not unique. Completely. It happens every hundred years or so. A very powerful magician from Ceres will connected to a equally powerful dragon from Suwa. There should be records of it, Servant. I'm surprised you're unaware of them from Fai's need to know information."

"I have a name..."

The more talkative one grinned, "I know. It's Kurogane. Oh, I'm Kamui and this is Subaru." The dragon gestured to himself and then his twin. "I don't think we introduced ourselves last time we met. At least, not while you were awake."

Kurogane's eyes widened a little, Kamui was the name that the dragon had possessed in the dream. What a very strange coincidence. "When you attacked us and nearly killed me? No, you didn't introduce yourselves."

Kamui sighed, his golden eyes flashing. "I told you that I didn't want to hurt you..." Subaru elbowed Kamui and the other fell silent.

"So...why can a dragon be connected to a human? They are two completely different species." Kurogane asked as he sat the bed that Fai, and occasionally he himself, slept in. If they had to wait for his prince he might as well ask questions. He might as well use the dragons to entertain himself.

"It's in our legends. Think about it Servant..."

"It's Kurogane!"

"Would you rather I called you his Pet?" Kurogane grumbled and Kamui kept speaking. "Think about it. What does the word Cerestrian remind you of? If you remove the R and replace it with the L sound that the R makes?"

Kurogane mulled this over for a good while. He didn't have the best of vocabulary, but at last it came to him. "Celestial."

"Which means?"

"Heavenly."

"Wow, the Servant is smarter than I thought." Kurogane grit his teeth, these guys, or at least Kamui, were just like Yuui, rude to everyone but their twin. "Yes, Celestial, Ceres. In our legends humans are associated with the heavens, with angels. People of Ceres are to us the guardians of the gate, keeping everything smooth, gifted with powerful magic to protect the higher kingdom with."

"Then how are we here on Earth?" Kurogane's red eyes glanced at the dragon pair and they grinned, showing off small fangs.

"The heavenly people became greedy. Abusing their power, so the gods placed them on earth to learn their lesson. Then he made dragons, to keep you in check. That's why we're often more powerful, but lesser in numbers. Dragons and humans forced to live on earth, light and dark constantly in balance, constantly separated. That is called the equilibrium, humans have an edge over us by technology and we have the edge by sheer power. The two species are to never touch in any way unless it is to keep the equilibrium."

"So a human and a dragon are each other's stars when that equilibrium is broken?"

"Yes. When something too dark, or something too light comes to Suwa or Ceres it must be taken care of in a certain amount of time or the species touch. Like in the case of Prince Fai and the dragon who calls himself Yuui. It's like a warning almost, and they are the ones who are destined to get rid of this imbalance."

"There's something too light or dark going on right now?"

The dragons shrugged. "Not as far as Suwa can tell. Perhaps it originates in Ceres, or perhaps it's something dragons of Suwa can't see."

"So why exactly are you here now?"

"For Yuui. He's a young dragonlette. He needs to learn more than the basic tricks all dragons know. He needs to learn, so for a while he will be separated from Fai."

Kurogane let out a low groan, "He's not going to like that."

"Oh we know...but if Fai tells him to go...he will."

"Really?"

"All it takes is an order from Fai. Yuui will do anything he says, because Fai is the only person Yuui will ever truly care about. If Yuui makes Fai unhappy then Fai might get angry with him and Yuui would simply die inside if that happened."

"Is it the same for Fai? Will Yuui be the only person that he will care about?" The very thought made Kurogane cringe a little bit. It hurt his heart to think that the person he'd been with his entire life would never actually care.

"Of course not. Prince Fai is human. Humans jump from person to person constantly, as sickning as that is...After all, he...cried when I harmed you. Don't worry your pretty little head, he'll always love you." As Kurogane watched them Kamui leaned forward smirking. "You'll always be his valuable little **pet**."

The servant glared, "Don't make me come over there and hurt you."

"Big words from the guy who almost died when he faced me last time..."

"Kamui..." Kamui smirked still, but leaned back and became silent when Subaru whispered his name.

At that very moment Fai opened the door and walked inside. He looked at Subaru and Kamui, his eyes filled with tears that did not overflow his eyes, and he shook his head holding out his arm and showing them the armlet that was really Yuui in dragon form.

"He's a pretty little thing." Kamui commented. "His name is Yuui right? Your servant wasn't lying?" Fai shook his head gently to indicate that Yuui was Yuui's name.

"Good."

Subaru stood up from his place and came over to Fai. Gripping gently to the hand that was unoccupied Subaru leaned forward, whispering into Fai's ear. After a moment, he pulled away. "No hard feelings...It's all right."

Fai nodded slowly, his face showing that whatever Subaru had told him didn't convince him. "Now. We need...your other half."

"Go ahead." Kurogane growled. "Take him, keep him. Name him Fluffy." Despite the stern look Fai gave him, the knight heard his prince let out a small giggle after the word Fluffy.

"Can we really name him Fluffy?" Kamui looked a little disappointed when Fai shook his head no. Kurogane could see why, Dragons were scaly creatures in their 'other' form, to name one Fluffy would probably be reason for teasing for the rest of his life

The blond gently shook his arm and the dragon-like being slid off, shifting back into the form that looked so much like Fai, but ever so slightly different. "Do I really have to leave you, Fai?" Yuui looked absoultely torn by the very suggestion.

"It's for the best Dragonlette. You do want to learn how to protect him don't you?"

"Yeah." Yuui looked toward the ground. "I do."

Kamui gave a small smile and held out his hand to the blond dragon. "Then you will come with us."

After a moment Subaru spoke. The dragon stepped forward and gave a smile that was far more convincing than Kamui's. "Yuui, don't think of it as leaving his side. Don't think of it as going apart, think of it as growing closer. Distance makes the heart grow fonder."

At this Yuui smiled as well and turned, hugging Fai tightly and then retreating quickly to the sides of the two dragons. "I will be back for you Fai. I will become a better guard for you than that human on your bed." Yuui grinned and, as he looked to Fai, Kurogane saw that Fai gave a slightly nervous grin and waved them off.

"Oh. Fai?" The human prince looked to the dragon Kamui. "You must realize that your life is different now. You will have to make sacrifices, you will have to do things you don't want to do. I trust you already understand this as you know that it is...unusual for the dragons and humans to touch." Kamui waited for a moment for Fai's nod to appear before he continued. "Then you will dutifully carry out your first task. While Yuui is in Suwa he will be searching for an unseen imbalence. You are to do the same here. Do you understand?"

Fai nodded. "Good. We will see you soon then. Good luck." With that the three dragons promptly disappeared. It was much different than the way Kurogane knew that Fai disappeared with magic. Fai disappeared with a great swirl of blue colored wind. The dragons had faded out in a small swirl of golden sparkles, and then a breeze carried the sparkles out the window.

Kurogane went to the window and watched as the glitter disappeared in the distance, "Distance makes the heart go fonder?"

Fai gave a laugh that didn't suit his normal personality as he came to Kurogane's side and let his fingers run gently across his fingers, 'It is a saying Kuro-tan.'

"Yeah? So is 'Out of sight, out of mind.'"


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm so pleased right now. I got a beta for over the summer and this is the first chapter she corrected. So it should be so much better than my work usually is because it lacks a lot of my usual mistakes.

Read, review, enjoy.

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"Are you sure this is okay? Your father is usually so against you leaving the castle."

Kurogane sighed as he looked down at Fai who held up his arms like a child begging to be carried. He leaned over the side of the horse and grabbed Fai around his waist before lifting the prince up onto the horse with him. The horse could easily carry the pair of them, Kurogane wasn't as heavy as he looked and Fai was practically paper light.

Fai smiled, took the horse's reigns and simply nodded to Kurogane's question as he repositioned himself on the horse to make himself more comfortable. Kurogane rode the 'normal way,' and that was pretty simple. Fai on the other hand rode sidesaddle, which was much harder. The first time Kurogane had seen the blond do this he had wondered why he had done it, but by now he had figured out that it was harder to ride the 'normal way' when you rarely wore pants and instead typically wore robes.

"Next time, you're wearing pants. You'll see how much easier it is." Kurogane heard Fai's clear laugh as he shook the reigns lightly and the horse took off, almost throwing Kurogane off for he had forgotten to wrap his arm around Fai's waist to keep his balance.

As they rode Kurogane kept silent. The reason for this being that it was rather hard for Fai to speak to him while his hands were occupied by the horse's reigns. Kurogane had no real need to speak anymore, he knew that they were going to look for that imbalance that Kamui had told them to look for. He knew that Fai had requested the horse so that they could reach of edges of Ceres without too much problem. He also knew that the horse wouldn't be used for more than a few days because the country of Ceres was pretty big and because of that, within a few days Fai would be using magic to transport them from place to place to look.

"We're starting our search here?" Fai nodded as the horse came to a halt and he slipped off. "So how are we going to do this?"

As Kurogane climbed off the horse in a far less elegant manner than Fai had, the prince took his hand and began to spell, 'I am going to do an energy search. Two miles in radius. If I find anything, I will have you look for it, and even if you do not find anything, we will head back and start the process again tomorrow.'

To some people, this plan would sound very lazy and simplistic, but Kurogane knew that Fai was actually giving this his all. Fai was a truly powerful magician, just like his father, but even he had his limits. Most magicians could sense energy for up to a quarter mile away if they were giving it their all. Fai could sense that much if he barely touched the power to do so. If Fai gave it his all, he could sense things up to almost three miles in each direction, however if he did this it would take all his energy out of him and make him pretty much an invalid for the rest of the day, so Fai kept his limit to two miles, so that he could at least walk.

Kurogane agreed to the statement and the prince smiled, walking a few feet away and knelt to the ground. Kurogane could see Fai's eyes glaze over and the blond hair rose off his head a little. Kurogane watched as he could visibly see Fai tiring, but didn't dare go over to try and stop him for fear of his prince yelling at him for stopping him too soon.

Later than Kurogane would have liked Fai's hair went flat again and his eyes cleared. He pointed in a northeastern direction and stood to his feet. "You feel something over that way?"

Fai nodded as the prince walked back to where Kurogane and the horse were. As he got to the horses side he staggered a little. Seeing this, Kurogane whirled around, picked the blond up and placed him on the horse. "I'll go look, you stay here, understood?" Even though the servant technically shouldn't give orders to royalty, Fai nodded and wrapped his arms around the horse's neck.

Once this was done Kurogane ran off in the direction that Fai had indicated moments before, behind him the place where the horse and Fai were quickly becoming invisible in the tall grass that he was now walking through. Ceres had basically two types of terrain, forest and plain. If you weren't blinded by trees, you were blinded by tall grass.

The blades slapped and occasionally cut at Kurogane's hands and face, but still he kept going, not finding anything until he was almost at the very edge of Fai's sensory range. He saw a faint glow. Pushing through the grass he came to it and picked up what seemed to be a feather. Even Kurogane, who possessed no magic at all, could tell that the feather was by no means ordinary. The glow by itself was enough, but it also had strange patterns on one side and was far too large to belong to any bird that was native to Ceres and possibly even Suwa.

The servant ran his fingers over it. It felt normal, soft and downy. Other than the glow and the way it looked, it was fairly normal. Still, Kurogane was pretty sure that what Fai had felt was probably this. After all he hadn't come across anything else that even seemed to have a small amount of power, let alone something that drew enough power for Fai to say that it was possible for it to overthrow the balance.

Frowning he turned to his side to open his bag and place the strange feather within it, but as he did so, the glow disappeared. "Huh?!" His red eyes drifted back to where the feather had been a moment before and found that it was completely gone. It hadn't fallen on the ground, it wasn't off floating through the grass, and it wasn't in his hands. It was gone. "Where did it go?!" This was a royal pain.

For a full fifteen minutes Kurogane kept looking, but then gave up and went on back to where Fai and the horse were. Perhaps they'd come back another day and try to find it. For now they should probably get back to the castle before the dinner bell.

As he finally got out of the tall grass he saw Fai, the horse, and chuckled. The blonde's lithe body was sliding off the horse, but he didn't stop himself because Fai was fast asleep, his cheek resting on the horse's neck. It was rather cute to look at, the position and the unsuspecting face.

He still chuckled as he walked over to where Fai sat sliding, placed him back up on the horse, and rearranged his robes so that they came down to his ankles, as he had been sliding off the horse, they had come up to his knees. "Prince Fai." Kurogane now reached up and shook his shoulder, causing blue eyes to open slightly. In the seconds after this Fai grabbed onto his wrist and seemed to be just about ready to cast a spell when he got a clear look at Kurogane's face. Immediately his hand let go and his fingers went to Kurogane's palm. 'Kuro-pyon?'

"Yeah, who else would it be?"

Fai frowned, 'I do not know...but it did not feel like you.'

"What? I have a feel?"

'Of course you do. Everyone does...yours is most familiar.' Fai let out a sound that was very much like a sigh and patted the spot on the horse's back just behind him. 'You ready to go?'

"Yeah, I thought I found something, but then it disappeared and I couldn't find it again." Kurogane pulled himself up onto the horse. "What do I feel like?"

Fai took a long time to answer, 'Like a breeze. Soft and gentle in the spring. Just barely caressing my skin. Father feels like lightning, hard and dangerous to be around.'

"So...what did I feel like when you woke up?"

'Harsher. More like a gale. Like you were going to blow me over. You still feel like that. I am a little worried.' Fai pulled on reigns and the horse took off, galloping at a quick pace back toward the castle. It was about two hours until the dinner bell rang, but it was still understandable why Fai would want to hurry back to that place.

The wind beat softly against Kurogane's face in the warm, early summer air. It didn't slap or pinch like the bitter winter air that Ceres had in its winter season, which lasted for about five months of the year. Kurogane personally disliked snow and cold, yet every winter Fai would drag the servant out and bombard him with snowballs, a laugh always at his lips. It was the same in summer, Kurogane didn't like swimming, yet Fai could easily coax him into it with just a smile and a couple gestures. Kurogane had admitted it to himself many years ago, he was a slave to Fai's will. He just couldn't say no to the boy.

"Do you want us to take the horse back into the stable? Or do you want to do it yourself?"

Beneath his head Kurogane felt something move and he lifted his head quickly, realizing that he had been resting his cheek against Fai's shoulder blades. A flash of a blush burned across his face, and then he looked to the imploring look that Fai was giving him, not questioning the intimate closeness that Kurogane had just displayed, but asking him to answer the question that other guards had asked.

"Yeah, you put the horse away." He slid off the horse and then automatically held his arms out for Fai, the prince immediately taking the offer and jumping off the horse into Kurogane's arms, wrapping his own arms around the swordsman's neck and laughing joyously. A few feet away Kurogane was sure he heard the other guards talking about them as they led the horse off.

'Kuro-chu, come now, let us go inside and prepare for dinner.'

Kurogane nodded as he gently set Fai down on his feet and allowed the blond to grasp to his wrist, pulling him inside the castle, "Whatever you wish of me."

* * *

A loud rapping noise came from the middle of the room. A snapping sound was then heard along with someone giving a soft 'ow.' Clawed hands ran through blond hair, carful to not touch a pointed ear. "Subaru! You broke it! You didn't need to hit him that hard!"

Subaru's golden eyes glanced at the ruler that had broken cleanly in his hands. They then flitted to Yuui's face and lastly, Kamui's face. "I didn't mean to hit him that hard..." The soft voice said as his hands clumsily placed the broken ruler on the table. "I only meant to get Yuui's eyes off the window and onto his book." The last word was not spoken any louder than the others, but the strain he placed on the syllables instantly caused Yuui's eyes to flit back to his spell book.

"Yeah, I understand." Kamui smirked a little at the youngest dragon as his eyes moved back and forth over the text, trying to memorize every spell as quickly as possible. "It's just that we need to be quiet, and that crack could have probably been heard miles away."

"Why do we need to be quiet?"

Subaru and Kamui looked to each other and raised their eyebrows. Yuui was so ignorant. "The king...doesn't like noise."

"We have a king?"

Kamui hit his forehead with his palm, "We live in the castle and you don't know that?! Fei you idiot! Fei is the king!"

Yuui made an aheming sound and reached up, curling his blond locks behind one of his ears, his face flushing with embarrassment. "Sorry, you just never addressed him as a king." It was true, in the few days he had been here with Subaru and Kamui he had seen Fei, heard the two other dragons call him by name, but never call him a king. Not only that, but Fei didn't seem to be a dragon.

"Of course not. He's evil. He uses his power to harm and hurt people. Why do you think our land is in such turmoil? He even killed his twin dragon."

Yuui's eyes widened, this man...had killed his own twin, his opposite star? How was that possible? He barely knew Fai, but knew that he loved his twin with all his heart and more. How could he do that?! His fingers reached up to his mouth to make sure that he would not vomit. "Isn't it horrible?"

Yuui nodded, "But...doesn't that make him an imbalance?"

The twins shook their heads no. "It's impossible for him to be the imbalance we seek. One, he contrasts Ashura of Ceres who has done...similar things on a less grand scale, Fei needed to be...darker, for Suwa was brighter than Ceres until recently. Also, he was here to stop another imbalance ."

"You mean..."

"Yes, he was just like you and Prince Fai. A dragon and a magician, forced together to seek out something improper and get rid of it. At first, he was the best thing that happened to our country...or so we've heard, we weren't born yet. Then it all turned around when he killed his own twin in cold blood and took over. Wonderful person isn't he?"

"I wish to kill him..."

"Ah...but you can't." Kamui turned and looked out the window at the mountainous region beyond the castle walls, "You are here to help keep the equilibrium, not destroy it. He's getting pretty old, one of these years he'll die."

"That's not good enough, he should suffer for his acts."

"Hey." Subaru's soft, lofty voice broke through the silence, "You won't receive argument from me, but we just can't. The equality of Suwa and Ceres is already out of balance , we can't risk doing any more. Back to reading."

Yuui growled and turned back to the pages of the spell book he was supposed to be memorizing. Quickly he changed the subject to get his mind of Fei and the fact he had killed his own twin, the one person who would have loved him more than anyone else... "When can I see Fai again?"

"When you finish this book, look for an imbalance, and can assure us that it is fact not in Suwa, but Ceres."

"I can bring him here when I do that, right?"

Subaru smiled gently and nodded, "Yes."

Yuui smiled brightly and reached down to the book, turning the page, his smile fading quickly. "When I bring Fai here...can I leave Kurogane there?"

The two elder dragons glanced at each other, both seeming to be speaking to each other silently. At last Subaru closed his eyes and gave Kamui a small nod, obviously not pleased about the outcome of whatever they had been 'talking' about. Kamui shook his head gently, coming forward and holding out his hand. Subaru raised an eyebrow, but obliged, setting his hand in his twin's.

Slowly, Kamui brought Subaru's fingertips to his lips, kissing the claw-like nails and whispering something against them. "Well?"

Kamui let Subaru's hand drop from his and a sleek, cunning smile formed on his lips as he reached out his hand and placed it on the blonde's shoulder. "Yes Yuui. Bring Fai, without Kurogane."


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm sorry this one took so long to get to you all. I actually posted a story in the X/1999 section and I wanted to get that done before I posted this and it took way longer than I thought it would. I'm really sorry. I'm not even done typing up the next chapter! I'm falling so behind! Gah!

Oh well, I'll just have to catch up.

Read, review, enjoy.

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"Kurogane!" The servant looked up from his training to see a superior coming toward him at a fast pace that would normally indicate that he was in a lot of trouble. The only problem with this was that he wasn't in any trouble that he knew of. He couldn't remember doing anything as of late that would even get him in trouble with Fai. Of course Fai's punishments consisted of breaking the bones in his hands, not sending a guard after him.

"Yes sir?" Kurogane stood up very straight to look at the man in front of him, his eyes portraying a look of respect, although the only person in the world that he respected in any way was Fai.

"You've been summoned."

"By Prince Fai? It's only ten in the morning, he's still in his classes..." Not that Fai actually needed to be in any classes.

"No, I can't understand your prince, remember? King Ashura himself asked for you...by name." Kurogane let a look of complete surprise overtake his face. The king never spoke to him alone, and when he spoke to him while Fai was around he always referred to him as 'the servant' or 'Fai's pet'. Never had Ashura spoken his name. "The way he spoke, it made it sound like it was very important, I'd head up there right away."

"Yes sir." Kurogane bowed and hurried off to the castle and up the stairs, sliding down a banister and finally bursting through into the dining room in which he knew they would meet.

He was worried, very worried, and this worry was heightened even more when he heard a clatter and Fai rose to his feet. Looking at his prince he was quite surprised. The blond was wearing pants, a tunic, knee-high boots, and a hat that Kurogane knew had once possessed a rather large feather, but had been torn off by Fai's own hands as he had found it 'tacky.'

"You seem upset Kurogane." Kurogane ignored the King's words as he saw Fai motion for him to come closer to him, and pull out a chair for the servant to sit in. "Is something wrong?"

"You're wearing..." Kurogane mumbled as he came closer to Fai. Fai held his arms in front of his face in an X position, showing that he was not going to answering any questions at the moment. He them pointed at the chair and then at his father. Kurogane took this to mean that he was to sit and answer Ashura's question. Sighing, he took a seat and stared coldly into Fai's father's eyes. "You called for me by name. Or was the messenger lying?"

"Oh no, he was right. This is important. Fai, how go your piano lessons?"

Fai sat down and tilted his head, staring at his father in a blank fashion, his lips not uttering a word, not even to answer the question. "They're great." Kurogane answered for Fai. "You should hear his practicing, it's beautiful."

"So, it's just like the violin, and every other instrument I've had him learn?"

"Yes."

Ashura nodded, "I wonder, would Fai also like to learn how to sing?"

Kurogane's eyes flitted over to where Fai sat. The prince's eyes were wide, and then he shook his head violently. Kurogane understood, singing involved words. Fai believed that he had traded all his words for Kurogane's life, as false as Kurogane himself believed this to be. "Did you just call him down here to make fun of the fact that he doesn't talk?"

"No." Ashura grinned in a way that made him look almost evil. "Are you sure you don't want to learn to sing Fai? Not even now that you can speak?"

There was a long pause in which Fai was completely still, before he stood to his feet and rushed over to where Ashura was, raising a hand and bringing it down to backhand his own father, obviously pissed about the joke. Ashura clasped to Fai's wrist before the hand got even close to touching him. "Fai, you assume that I'm an evil being. Even though I compromised with you. You traded your words for a non-magical person. The non-magical person is gone, and so, your words return."

Fai made a loud growling sound and swung his arm to point across the table to Kurogane. Kurogane instantly understood this to mean, 'The non-magical person is right over there!'

"My son...he's such a fool, isn't he Kurogane?" Ashura smiled softly at his favorite son, raising his hand and gently stroking at Fai's cheek, just like he did every time Fai got close enough to him. "Everyone else in the castle has felt it, I myself feel it from across the table. You, Fai, who is close to him more than anyone else, have you not noticed a change in his presence? It's changed. Hasn't it?"

Fai was still silent. "If you won't speak, at least shake or nod!" The King's hand visibly tightened around Fai's wrist and the blond flinched, nodding his head vigorously. "That's his magic Fai...the deal is nullified unless he loses that magic..."

The son and father stared at each other, Fai's face remaining perfectly still and calm, but Ashura's slowly getting angrier and angrier, "Speak! Or I'll kill him for you being silent!"

A long sigh left Fai's lips and he slowly shook his head, "I don't understand." Words...words left Fai's lips. "You make it sound like my voice is the most precious gift I could give you." Kurogane's eyes grew wide, he hadn't expected Fai's voice to sound so...deep. He had heard Yuui speak, and Yuui was younger than Fai, his voice still a fairly high pitch, for it had not completely changed yet. Fai's voice had stopped changing years ago, and he had always had that high, clear laugh, and his whistles, and his...everything. Every sound had indicated that his voice would be so much higher than it was.

But no matter what indications other sounds may have given, his real voice was so much different. It was the most beautiful thing Kurogane had ever heard, but that wasn't to mistake it for being anything near being a feminine voice. It was deep, but not loud, it was soft, delicate, flowing, as if the slightest amount of wind could carry the words to a faraway land to wherever people wished to hear them.

"Ahhh, beautiful Fai." Ashura's eyes closed as he seemed to relish in the worlds, his hands letting go of his son, allowing Fai to step back and sink back against the wall, the look on his face seeming to indicate he felt like he had just committed the most horrendous sin in the world.

"So...I really can speak?" Kurogane found himself also relishing in the words Fai's voice spoke. He couldn't say that he hadn't wanted to hear Fai's voice for the longest time, but he had satisfied himself by telling himself that Yuui's voice was just like Fai's, or his dream, the one where Fai had almost killed the dragons. Both of those were nothing like the reality. This was more...ethereal than he had ever heard of imagined.

"Yes. Unless he loses his magic again. You can speak. So...about those singing lessons?"

"I'll...still pass."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"If you are sure..."

Fai nodded and stood away from the wall. "Is there something you wanted to say to him?" Him, that was what Fai called Kurogane, he had indicated it by nodding at the man. It stung slightly to not even be addressed by one of the cutesy nicknames Fai had come up with for him.

"No, I just wanted him to be here for this, so there was no surprise when you spoke."

"How thoughtful. Thank you Father."

"I look forward to dinner tonight, Fai."

"As do I." Slowly, the blond bowed and then walked over to where Kurogane was, "You, come." The fact that Fai hadn't said his name stung even more when Fai had looked straight at him, and called him 'You.' Still he obeyed, standing up and followed Fai out of the hall and silently followed Fai up to his room.

Still Fai was silent as Kurogane closed the door to Fai's chamber. "Are we going looking for that imbalance today?" Fai didn't respond. "Fai?"

Quickly now, Fai spun around, his hat falling to the ground as the prince pulled something off over his head. "Here." He held the object out and Kurogane saw it to be the sapphire encrusted music-box he had bought Fai for his birthday. A smile that did not properly show the emotion of sadness that was in Fai's eyes spread across his face.

"What's this?"

"Don't you recognize it? You bought it."

"No, I know exactly what it is, but why are you giving it back to me?"

"You'll need the money. You must have a lot saved up, but you'll need every copper piece you can get."

"Prince Fai...what are you talking about?"

The blond hairs on Fai's head moved back and forth slightly as he shook his head. "I can speak. You never did believe me, but in exchange for owning you, I paid my words...if I can speak, you...are no longer mine." The prince thrust out his hands out in front of him, begging Kurogane to take the pendant from him. "You can leave."

"Don't I have a choice?"

"Of course you do!" Fai looked at his former servant as if he were crazy, "You can go wherever you please, do whatever you wish, you can marry, have a family, learn the magic you now apparently have, anything. You can do anything, go anywhere."

Kurogane reached out as if he were going to take the pendant Fai offered to him. The blue eyes softened and then closed, waiting for the object to leave his grasp. Kurogane did take the object from Fai's hand. When it was gone from his hands Fai's eyes opened and soft, sigh left his lips. "I wish you...what are you doing?" Fai instinctively moved his head to one side.

"Dammit! Don't move your head out of the way!" Growling, one hand reached out and held onto a few strands of blond hair and kept Fai's head perfectly still while he slipped the thin chain back over his head and around to the slender neck that Kurogane felt it belonged around.

"I don't understand...You'll need money wherever you go..."

"You said I can go anywhere, didn't you?"

Fai nodded as his fingers reached up and turned the trinket over and over in them. "You can go anywhere, you are free to go where you want to go."

"That's just it Fai, I don't wish to go anywhere. All of the life I can remember, I've been here, beside you..." Kurogane took a deep breath to say the next words. "My beloved Prince. You never had to bolt me to the floor to make me stay, I feel no freer now than I ever have. So why should I go somewhere I wouldn't normally feel like going?"

"You...want to stay?"

"Is that all right? Is it all right if I stay by your side a little bit longer? In fact, just this once I'll go against my usual hate for the word and say that I'd be happy to stay by your side...forever."

"For...ever..." Fai's hands dropped the pendant, causing it to swing back and forth for a moment while his fingers reached up to his face, covering everything but the bright blue orbs that were quickly filling with tears. "Is that really what you want?"

"Yes. May I stay? You're not sick of me?"

"Never!" A sob escaped Fai's mouth and two tears leaked, disappearing behind his hands before the tears dropped to the ground. "Never would I be bored with Kuro-chan!"

A smile spread Kurogane's lips as he wrapped his arms around the prince's shoulders, bringing him close and hugging him. "'Forever' it is then." Fai's crying quickly faded away, but still they stood like that, comfortably, at least until a bell rang out across the castle grounds.

Fai took Kurogane's hand, his fingers quickly walking across it, 'I guess it is too late to go out...' The prince gasped and put a couple fingers to his lips, "Sorry, I forgot I can speak, it's habitual, I guess."

"It's fine Fai. It's your special way of talking to me. Besides, if you fall completely out of the habit, what happens when your father figures out I don't really have magic and you have to go silent again?"

Fai sighed, 'I guess you are right,' he signed on Kurogane's palm, 'But I do not think we should go looking for the imbalance, even though I dressed up for it.'

"That's all right. There are other things you can do in those clothes, come on, I'll show you." Fai's previously crying mood was instantly replaced by a squeal of laughter as Kurogane grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag him out the door.

"Kuro-tan?" They were walking so quickly Fai found that it was probably easier to just speak.

"Yeah?"

"You realize you're sleeping next to me tonight, don't you?"

"I had already planned on that, even if you hadn't asked."

Fai's smile brightened and with his free hand the prince held the music box in his hand and opened it, allowing it's tune to weave between the servant and master as they ran out of the castle and toward the stables.


	8. Side Chapter

A/N: Here! I'm sorry this took so long for me to get out. I had originally planned to just jump from the first arc to the second arc, but then I decided that for developing plots sake, I'd do this instead.

Yes people, I have failed you! This is NOT a real update. These are all mini-stories to give you a little more depth to the castle Fai and Kurogane live in, gives you an idea of who Fai's family is, and gives you an idea of how Kurogane and Fai have lived through the years. The first, second, and third mini-story starts after the first chapter, but before the second chapter. The last mini-story takes place after the seventh chapter, but before the chapter that comes after this one. Confusing I know.

Basically what I've done here is given you filler, but not the pointless filler they give you in anime to cover up the storyline of the manga, these are little stories I've had in my head since I started writing Ceres of Magic, Suwa of Dragons.

I have the next chapter done, but you're going to have to wait for it. I have to make my circle of updates in other stories first. Sorry...

Anyway, read, review, enjoy.

* * *

****

Face to Face:

* * *

"Do you have this all memorized? You're not to leave his side unless he tells you to, and he's a prince. You have to treat him as if he's a special person."

"He's the youngest prince! Why does he need a servant?"

Touya sighed, reaching up to his head with one hand and rubbing his temple. "Because that's the way it is. Fai was chosen to have one, and you're it kid. Just because the others don't, doesn't mean that they can't."

"Great. Something new for the kids at the barracks to tease me for..."

"Being a prince's servant is something to be proud of!"

"To you."

Touya sighed, his hand twitching slightly, "Sure. Whatever. Just...remember, Prince Fai is special, even as far as prince's go. Be careful with him." The King's adviser opened a door and they walked into a room that was filled with stuffed animals and toys. In a far corner stood a young blond child. "Prince Fai? Come here please."

The blond child moved from the corner and stood in front of the two black haired people. With wide and innocent eyes he stared at them, then smiled brightly at Kurogane, jumping forward and wrapping his arms tightly around his neck. "What are you doing!? Let go of me, you freak!"

At once Fai drew away, looking at the ground. His mouth moved, but no sound coming from his lips. "Why aren't you talking!?"

"Hey! Stop speaking to the prince like that!" Touya instantly reached out with one hand and sharply rapped the hand against Kurogane's cheek, punishing Kurogane for his? comments.

Fai looked up, frowned even more and motioned at Touya. His movements were rigid and hard to read, but at last it became obvious that the young boy wanted Touya to come closer to him. When the adviser obeyed Fai slapped Touya's face and pointed at Kurogane. His lips moved again, but Kurogane couldn't make out what the prince wasn't saying.

After a moment Fai pointed at Touya and made a shooing motion with his hand. He then pointed at Kurogane and made that same motion that indicated he wanted Kurogane to stay. Touya looked rather confused, baffled, and upset, but he straightened himself up and bowed deeply, "If you need anything, don't hesitate to have Kurogane come get me."

As Touya finally left the room Fai made a sound for the very first time. It was a soft sigh that was terribly drawn out as he shook his head. The prince reached out to Kurogane's hand and pulled him more into the room, reaching up to one of his shelves and pulling a stuffed kitten off it. He smiled at Kurogane and shoved the stuffed animal into the servant's arms before he leaned forward and kissed the spot where Touya had hit Kurogane.

* * *

****

Finger **Language:**

* * *

"What are you doing?" Kurogane's voice asked in a curiously bored voice as he watched Fai sit on the floor with a pen, ink, and paper. They were now nine years old. Kurogane had learned to put up with Fai's odd behavior, and in a way, he liked the prince. If you wanted proof of this, hidden deep in the barracks he still had that stuffed cat.

Fai looked over his shoulder at Kurogane, grinned, and dipped the pen in the ink. His hand gracefully drew a single letter on the page before he dropped the pen on the ground and proudly held the paper up in front of Kurogane's face. "So you can write the letter A. You've been able to do that for as long as I can remember. What's so special about it now?"

Fai pouted and patted the floor next to him. Kurogane rolled his eyes, but swiftly sat next to Fai. Most of the time he felt like he wasn't so much a servant for Fai as a playmate for Fai. Every day was a guessing game, he constantly had to try and guess what Fai was trying to say in his movements and whistles. While he understood the prince's body language better than anyone else did, it was still hard to decipher.

Fai smiled at Kurogane and tapped the paper that had the letter A written on it repeatedly. "Yes, yes, I get it. You like the A." Fai set the paper down and grabbed at Kurogane's hand, his fingers poking at it several times. "What the?!" Fai sighed loudly and picked up the paper again, tapping it in a more ferocious way. "Yes! The letter A! I got that! What about it!?"

Fai growled, his hands reaching up to his golden locks and pulling at them, the very small beginnings of tears coming to his eyes. "Hey! Hey! Why are you crying!? Don't cry!"

Fai grabbed another piece of paper and wrote quickly. When he held the paper up in front of Kurogane's face the servant Kurogane realized what Fai was doing. He wasn't the best at reading yet, but he was able to slowly read the paper out loud. "I want to talk with you, really talk with you...but you're being obtuse about learning how." Fai's words were so hard to follow, and only Fai would be able to properly use the word obtuse at the age of nine and expect Kurogane to understand it. "What does that mean? How are you going to talk with me with poking my hand?"

Fai let out a sound of sheer frustration and grabbed at Kurogane's hand again. He pressed against it again and pointed at the paper that had the letter A. "I still don't...oh...you mean what you poked on my hand was the letter A?" Fai nodded vigorously, repeating the process. "So...you want to teach me a sign language?" Fai nodded again as he repeated the pattern again and again.

Kurogane closed his eyes trying to recognize the pattern, and after a while he pulled his hand away from Fai's grasp. "I think that the letter A is grilled into my mind forever and ever. What now?"

The servant watched as Fai picked up another piece of paper and after a moment held it up with a new letter. B.

* * *

********

Prince Yuui:

* * *

"Fai?" Kurogane frowned, "Fai?...Fai!" The servant waited and waited until at last Fai looked over his shoulder at him. "Oh, don't give me that look!"

Fai simply clicked his tongue and looked back at his textbook. "Fai! I know you know everything in that book, so put it down and talk with me! Don't tell me you wasted all that time teaching me your stupid alphabet to give me the cold shoulder!"

Deliberately being very slow, Fai marked his page in the book, set it aside and picked up Kurogane's hand. His fingers very slowly signed in their complex way the following words, 'One: I did not waste my time. Two: Yes, I do know everything in that book. Three: I am giving you the cold shoulder because you are prying into places you should not pry!'

"But Fai!" Kurogane made the same frustrated sound that the prince had made four years ago when he had been trying to get Kurogane to understand what he was being taught. "I've been trying for a year! I want to know! You keep my secret, I'll keep yours! It's only fair!"

'Fair or not. I do not wish to tell anyone. It is not that I do not trust you. It is that somehow something slips in casual conversation and then everyone knows, which would not be good for me. I on the other hand, can't talk to anyone except you about anything.'

"Fai, don't be that way. I'm loyal to you. You know that! It's your birthday tomorrow, come on. Tell me, so that we don't have to be going through this when you're supposed to be having fun."

'Kuro-myu? In case you have not noticed, I never have any fun on my birthday.'

"Ohhh, is that part of your secret?" Kurogane said this kiddingly, but when Fai looked toward the ground he instantly felt sorry that he had asked that, "Fai? Prince Fai?"

'Please, Kuro-pii, stop.'

"Fai tell me. Telling me will make whatever your burden is lighter."

A soft sigh came from the prince's lips and he looked up at Kurogane, 'Fine, but only because I do not want to avoid you anymore. I am not Prince Fai. I am really Prince Yuui.'

* * *

********

First Kiss:

* * *

"The girls are looking at you again, Prince Fai."

A smile spread across the youngest prince's face as he lifted a glass full of a clear liquid to his lips. "Do I need to remind you of where we are?"

"One of your father's numerous parties."

"Oh ho," Fai's smile grew even larger. His tone took on that sarcastic note that would just irk Kurogane every time he used it, "You do know where we are. Then you should also know that each of those girls are of a age when they can be married. They're not commoners, duchesses and ladies. Still the fact remains that if they were to marry a prince, they'd be set for life." The words escaped Fai's lips in a hushed manner, and every time he spoke his eyes flitted around, as if wondering if his father had gone back on his word yet, or had decided Kurogane lacked magic again.

"They aren't looking at any of your other siblings that are here!"

Fai only chuckled, "Akira is a known womanizer, even though he is in love with only one woman, Yukito is known to be in love with a man. Kazahaya is a bit too loud...girls don't like loud." The blond took a long sip from his glass and sighed, "Besides, Tomoyo's getting looks from guys, and she's my sibling."

"She doesn't count."

"And just why not?"

"She's a girl."

"And girls can't be my siblings?"

"They can. Just not siblings other girls look at in the way they look at you."

"I see..." Fai smiled slightly, his eyes looking up at Kurogane with a laugh glittering behind them. "You have the strangest reasons for things, but I suppose that's my fault...the way I had you raised."

"You're not my damn mother or something."

"No, but I have made all arrangements throughout your life. I've made all your choices. So it's my fault for how you grew up. To a point." Fai set down his glass and reached out to the table, picking up a tart and biting into it.

"Yeah..." For the very first time Kurogane moved. He turned so that he was facing Fai. "So, this party was optional for you, right?" Fai nodded, "So why are we here? You hate gatherings. You hate them so much you dread the dinner hour every night."

"You have never eaten at a party...the food is better than usual."

"And that is your reason?"

"That, and that I can eat as much as I want without someone noticing. Except for you of course. You notice it if I move my little tow."

"Those girls will notice."

Fai's eyes shifted back to where a small group of girls were standing. The moment they saw that Fai had looked in their direction they looked away, pretending to talk amongst themselves, "They don't count."

"Why not?"

"They don't care what I eat. They'll keep looking."

"And you say I have strange reasons for things."

Kurogane watched Fai eat two more tarts, an apple, and he was beginning to delicately place a strawberry in his mouth before he finally spoke again, "I did say that it was my fault that you have strange reasons...to a point. Besides, they really don't count. I've tried things at other parties it doesn't sway their gaze."

"Well let's think it over."

"Since when do you think anything over? You just do."

"Prince Fai..."

Fai chuckled, "Fine, we'll do it my way. What are you thinking of?"

"Kazahaya is loud and they don't like him, but that wouldn't work, because if those girls haven't realized that even without your words you're loud, then they never will."

"This is true. I suppose I just can't attain the same level of loud that he can..." A false huff of exasperation caused Kurogane to snatch the goblet of wine from the prince's fingertips.

"Be serious! Now, what about womanizing?"

"You're seriously suggesting that? Please, I'm above such things. Even if Akira only does it to make women look away, I could never think of doing it...Most men who are womanizers are dishonest, it takes a rare skill like Akira's to do such a thing and still be pure at heart." Fai truly seemed upset as he snatched the goblet back from his servant and took another one from the table, shoving it into Kurogane's arms.

Kurogane growled, his hands harshly placed the goblet Fai had handed him on the table. "I'm just trying to help your situation! What about pretending to love a man? Is that fine? Or too hard for you as well?"

Fai choked a little on his wine. For a long moment he kept the goblet at his lips, and when he finally lowered it his eyes closed, "All right, now you're just insulting me. It wouldn't be hard for me to 'pretend' to love a man, but no man here is going to pretend to love me back to make a bunch of girls stop staring at me."

"Ahh, but that is where you're wrong Fai. There is one male being at this party who would help you."

"Oh yeah? Just who wou--" Fai's empty goblet crashed against the ground as rough hands grabbed at his face and his own servant pulled him into a deep kiss. The prince's eyes widened and widened until you could swear they were going to pop out of their sockets. Then he realized what was going on, it was just Kurogane. Kurogane was being the ever loyal Kurogane, trying to help him out with his problems. This meant nothing to Kurogane.

After a moment Kurogane let go of Fai's face, and looked at the red complexion. "Did I hold it too long? Are you okay?"

"No, no." Fai gave a very fake laugh and put his hand elegantly at his chest, "It just caught me off guard. You shouldn't do such things without giving me warning first." Fai bent down and gingerly picked up the dropped goblet. As he stood up he looked to the girls who had all scattered and were no longer looking. "Well," the prince chuckled and placed his hands at his the very lips Kurogane had kissed moments before, "At least it worked."

"That it did."

Fai smiled over his shoulder at Kurogane, giving off the impression that nothing at all had happened, "I'm going to get more wine. Don't do something like that again, all right Kuro-wan?" Without waiting for a response Fai turned and walked away quickly.

Kurogane watched, "Never again?" He whispered. "I'm not sure if I'm all right with that...I enjoyed it far too much."


	9. Chapter 7

A/N: And the second arc of the story starts. I officially know how this is going to end. Before, I had no idea whosoever, now I know. However, this ending does cut the second arc a little shorter than I thought it would be. Oh well, as long as the story is good and it's not some jumbled mixed up mess, I don't care how long it is.

This is a surprisingly short chapter...I'm not sure if this will become a trend in chapters, or if it's just this one, but either way I hope it's readable.

I was supposed to update a different story before this one, but someone...not naming names... for real, you know who you are, bribed me into updating this one first. You should thank her, if you figure out who she is.

Read, Review, Enjoy.

* * *

Fingers clutched to soft cotton fabric of a shirt, and the low toned voice of Celes' youngest prince mumbled, "It's still dark out, please don't leave yet..." The sound of blankets twisting and turning were heard as Fai shifted uncomfortably.

A tanned hand covered the pale hand that gripped to the fabric, and Kurogane sighed, shaking his head slightly, "I have practice today Prince Fai. I have to go, or they'll yell at me."

"No. They won't. Not if I tell them the truth about you being with me..."

"Fai..." Reluctantly Fai's fingers released themselves from Kurogane's shirt and the hand buried itself under the array of pillows that filled the bed he lay on. "Don't be foolish, you have lessons, I have practice, we'll see each other afterword." The only response Kurogane got to this was a tired grumble from Fai as the blond buried his face in the pillows.

The servant sighed, walked over to Fai's shelves and pulled out a stuffed rabbit whose paws held onto a flower that Ashura had given him when he was seven years old and placed it on top of the prince's head. "If you really want to hold onto something while you sleep, use that."

Fai reached up, took it off of his head to embrace, and then made a sound of disappointment, "It's not as warm or cuddly as you."

"Oh well. I'll see you after your lessons." Kurogane turned, walked to the door, left the room, and began down the stairs out onto the castle grounds.

For the last week or so he and Fai had been sleeping side by side. It had never actually been given out as an order, but the past few nights he had just never gone back to barracks. Something or another had stopped him. Once Fai had said it was too late to go back out to the barracks without disturbing anyone. Another time Kurogane had just been too tired to bother. It was strange, he had never slept in the same bed as Fai so many nights in a row, but it didn't feel wrong. Even if the people in the barracks spread rumours or made fun of him, he still felt a lot better when he woke up in the prince's room than when he awoke in the barracks. He wasn't sure how it exactly felt, but that sense of protecting Fai even at night was there along with soemthing else that he didn't recognize.

"Morning, Kurogane."

"Hm...Morning."

"I see you didn't sleep in your bed again last night."

"Nope." Kurogane leaned over to touch his toes. It was part of the warm ups they were supposed to do. Most of the younger guards didn't think the warm ups were important, but Kurogane knew that if you didn't do these simple excercises that it was more likely for you to pull a muscle or something. He took it as a personal privilage to laugh internally whenever this happened to someone who had not warmed up. "I didn't sleep there, I slept up in the castle again."

"What did you do up there?"

"Slept?" Kurogane now pulled on his arms in an attempt to stretch them out as well.

"And?"

"Slept, and in answer to your next question I woke up and then came down here."

"Are you sure you didn't do anything else?"

"Yeah, other than tell Fai I'd see him after lessons, which I include in the waking up bit of my actions."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe it. If you had been standing in the room watching all night that is all you would have seen." The other boys in his barracks glanced at each other in disbelief, but they let the topic drop.

Practice seemed to be just the same as every other time that Kurogane came down and sparred. Kurogane always won, he'd always had a special talent with a sword that no one else in Ceres seemed to be able to overcome. Whenever Fai came and watched him and laughed, he would always scold the prince by telling him that his skills with a sword were what made up for his apparent lack of magic. Every time he said this Fai would shake his head and imprint upon his palm that it was Kurogane's heart that made up for his magic. Kurogane had never understood what Fai meant by that.

"Good job today, Kurogane."

"Thanks," the servant sheathed his blade and bowed slightly to his superiors. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to get going."

"Of course, the prince should be getting out about now."

Kurogane ran off in the direction of the castle, going back up the ever so familiar stairs that led to Fai's chambers. He opened the door and saw that the room was completely empty of people, let alone Fai. At first he assumed that Fai hadn't gotten out of lessons yet, so he waited for him to come up. He didn't.

After almost an hour of waiting impatience got to Kurogane and he went down into the main part of the castle, looking for someone who would know where Fai would be. The first person he found was Yukito, one of the elder princes of Ceres. "Prince Yukito!"

"Hm? Oh, good afternoon Kurogane. How is Fai feeling?" As he turned around his robes swished a little and he readjusted the glasses on his face. Aside from Fai, Kurogane found Yukito to be the only other prince that was in the least bit pleasant, and he would admit to himself that if it had been any of Fai's other brothers he would have kept on looking for someone to talk to.

"What do you mean, how is he feeling?"

"Oh..." Yukito put a hand to his lips, "Is it that bad?"

"Is what that bad?"

"Well, he's sick isn't he?"

"Not that I know of."

Yukito frowned, "Well, he didn't come down to lessons this morning. One of the messengers said that he wouldn't get out of bed. Both Fujitaka and I thought that he must be sick with some flu, because, well, you know Fai, he's always up and energetic. So, he's not ill?"

"No! I got up this morning and I haven't seen him since then! He's not in his room at all!"

"Oh my." Yukito's eyes got wide. "You look all around the castle and its grounds, I'll tell Father. Don't worry, we'll find him. It's Fai, he wouldn't have gone far."

* * *

"I want you to know that I have an extreme distaste for you at this particular time." Fai reached up and removed the hand that lay on his shoulder. The way he picked it up and then dropped it made it seem as if what he were picking up were a slimy and disgusting item.

"I realized before I did it that you wouldn't be pleased with me. You are very attached to Kurogane."

"Indeed I am."

"Understand my side of this as well...you've had Kurogane most of your life. I've never truly had you at all. I'm only asking for a couple days or so Fai. Then I will return you to Ceres, to Kurogane."

"Promise?"

"Of course, the imbalance is in Ceres. A couple days, you can wait that long, can't you?"

"I hope so."

"Thank you." Yuui smiled just as the door to the room opened.

Subaru, along with two other dragons, entered the room. The other dragons were older than both Subaru and Yuui by at least five years in the aging process, yet their facial expressions were much happier, as if they had experienced less evils in their years. "Subaru, where's Kamui?"

"He's outside waiting for me. We have to go out. We'll be back by nightfall, but since you brought the admirable Prince Fai here I thought it would be best to leave you in the care of another pair until we get back." Subaru looked over his shoulder at his two companions. "This is Seishiro, and this is Fuuma," one of Subaru's clawed hands pointed to each one in turn. "They're twins as well, even if they don't look like it. Do you understand?"

Yuui folded his arms, scowled, and nodded, "Yeah, I don't like it though."

Subaru sighed, "I didn't think you would." He smiled lightly and turned to Seishiro and Fuuma, "You better treat them well. Remember what I told you."

"Subaru, surely you kid me. You know you're the only one I would touch."

Subaru slouched a little bit, and a heavy sigh was heard as he waved the comment off, "Just remember."

"Of course."

"Good, and you two behave." Subaru looked back to Yuui and Fai to make sure they understood his last words before Subaru rushed out the door.

"Where are Kamui and Subaru going?"

Fuuma shrugged, "I suppose to do things for Fei."

"They do things for him?!"

Fai sighed a little bit and sat down. He didn't understand a bit of the current conversation and all he could do was listen and hope that with more time, more sense would come of it. If he was going to be spending time in Suwa, he might as well learn as much as he could.

"Of course, they're his advisers."

"But they speak so ill of him!"

"Of course they do, that's why they're his advisers."

"That makes no sense."

Fuuma laughed reaching out with one hand and clasping Yuui on the shoulder, "Fei does some really bad stuff. Not only that, but he's powerful. Together, Kamui and Subaru are powerful enough take Fei down if things got really bad. Fei knows it too. That is why they are his advisers."

Fai could understand these words and the logic behind them perfectly. Yuui on the other hand..."I'm still lost."

Seishiro sighed, "It's no good Fuuma, he's just a dragonlette. He can't comprehend."

"I understand," Fai said. Fuuma and Seishiro looked at Fai with eyes that asked him to explain his comprehension. Almost immediately Fai wished he hadn't said anything, the gazes were intense and almost made him want to curl into a ball. "Er...well, as his advisers they can say that things are a bad idea without being able to be killed for it, assuming going against Fei or whoever this is would be a capital crime. Being...he is king right?"

"Right."

"Well, being king, Fei can override his advisers authority, and being more powerful than him Subaru and Kamui can choose to let it go, or to continue to press. If Fei knows that they're powerful, he also knows that if they feel too strongly about something and he still goes against them, then they can overthrow him. So really, Subaru and Kamui being his advisers keeps Fei in check up to a certain point, correct?"

Seishiro nodded, "Very correct. You have good logic."

"Thank you. Does that make any more sense, Yuui?"

"A little."

"Good," Fai smiled, "So, what exactly are we doing to be doing while you're watching us?"

"Well, Subaru told us that you can't leave the castle until tomorrow, and to go against Subaru's will would just break my heart."

Fai raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, "You're a dragon, Subaru is not your twin..."

Fuuma chortled a little, "Don't worry about it, he likes Subaru, and likes to tease him. If he only teased him while he was in Subaru's presence it wouldn't be quite as effective, right Seishiro?"

"If that is what you want to believe." Seishiro smirked, giving him a look that a snake might give to the mouse it was about to eat. "At any rate, since we cannot go outside, we'll give you a grand tour of the castle. It'll be our honor, it isn't everyday that any human visits the castle, especially not a human like yourself."

Fuuma and Seishiro turned to leave the room. Yuui held his hand out to Fai, and Fai ignored it in favor of standing up without any help. Despite the fact that Fai found this place to be terribly interesting and the fact he and Yuui were 'destined' to find this imbalance, he could not turn his mind away from Kurogane and what his servant would be doing at this very moment. For this he blamed Yuui, because Yuui was the one who had brought him here in the first place.

He hoped Kurogane would be all right until he returned to Ceres.

* * *

"Anything?" Yukito shook his head. "The king is having people search. You should stay here Kurogane. Fai was always very loving of you, if he comes back, I'm sure you'll be the first face he wants to see."

Kurogane snorted loudly, "You think I'm staying here? To wait? Like a spoiled brat who didn't get the toy he wanted? No fucking way! I'm going out for him!" Despite the yells Yukito gave in a futile attempt to get Kurogane to stay behind, the servant of the youngest prince stormed out the door into the growing darkness.


	10. Chapter 8

A/N: Happy birthday to me! I'm posting this on my birthday, so that you all get something while I am celebrating my eighteenth birthday.

It's definitely not my best work. It's most certainly one of my lesser works. It gave me trouble, and I promise the next chapter will be better...especially since in the next chapter we'll be getting closer to the climax and conclusion of this story.

Read, review, and please, enjoy.

* * *

"Where is it?" Fai frantically dug around in his sheets, threw his pillows across the room, stood up, sat down, and even patted himself down frantically.

"Fai..." Yuui lifted his head off his own pillow and gazed at his twin with the golden eyes that all dragons possessed. "Fai, it's early. What are you looking for?"

Fai sighed in defeat and sat miserably on the edge of his bed. "The pendant. The one Kuro-pyon gave me for my birthday this year. You've seen what it looks like, I'm sure. It's round and gold with sapphires. It opens up and it'll play a song if it's wound. I was so careful with it, I kept it around my neck at all times and made sure that nothing got near it, but it's gone. What will I tell Kuro-mii?"

"The truth? You lost it, and you're sorry, and that you didn't mean to?"

"You...do know we're talking about Kuro-sama, right?"

"What? He won't forgive you?"

"He'll yell...but he'll forgive me."

"Then what have you got to worry about?"

Fai smiled sadly, "I don't want him to ever be upset with me...truly upset with me. Sure I tease him, but that's just a way of making him look in my direction more."

Yuui frowned and sat up straight, "What exactly is Kurogane to you? Do you love him?"

"Perhaps. He's more than a servant, but he'll never be more than that in the eyes of other people, or Kuro-chu's eyes."

"Meaning?"

The prince smiled slyly, "It doesn't matter one whit what I think." Fai's smile disappeared and he stood to his feet, "Kamui and Subaru should be back. I'm going to head down to the dining hall and see if they're there. Perhaps they've seen the pendant. Are you coming?"

"In a minute."

"All right," Fai turned and went out the bedroom door, his footsteps quickly fading down the cobblestone halls of the castle.

Yuui sighed and leaned forward. His hand went to his chest, seeming to grasp at something beneath the folds of his clothing. "I envy you so much...Kurogane."

* * *

"Do they...always argue?" Fai pointed toward Fuuma and Kamui. The two dragons had been bickering for a good ten minutes, and Fai could not identify what they were arguing about even though he had been listening to the entire thing.

"No idea," Yuui admitted, "This is the first time I've seen the pair of them together."

Subaru laid a plate down in front of Fai, and gently pushed at the magician's back to make him eat, "They _always argue _It's their way of saying that they're fond of each other...or at least it's Kamui's way of saying it. Fuuma may just go along with it because it's nearly impossible to calmly reason with him."

Fai frowned and raised an eyebrow, "So, are they friends?"

Subaru shook his head, "Lovers."

Fai's mouth fell open, "But..." Fai looked back and forth between the arguing pair and Subaru. "You're his twin!"

Subaru smiled and sat down on the other side of Fai, "And?"

"I thought twins were..."

"Often are. Often are, Prince Fai. It depends. Dragons are often brought up to be..." Subaru seemed to fish around his mind for the word, "Closed minded. To them, the world consists of their parents, and their twin. That is it. Dragons like Kamui, Seishiro, Fuuma, and I, were not brought up to only love our twin. We were taught from a very early age that there is a rather large world out there."

Fai pushed his plate away from him and leaned forward, seeming to be deep in thought, "So...those whose worlds are enclosed fall for their twin because it's all they know?"

"Yes. It usually works out rather well because the twin cannot bear for the other to be in pain, they are two halves of a whole."

"But...dragons like you can fall in love with anyone?"

"Yes. It's all about upbringing. Conditions of life. Most dragons would find it absolutely atrocious that you, even though you are a Celestian, have been brought up with a being that is not your twin, and that you care about him just as much as your twin."

"Kurogane..." Both Fai and Yuui whispered the name under their breath. For Fai it was spoken kindly, but for Yuui the name was like a taboo that should never be spoken again.

"Yes."

For a minute there was silence between Subaru, Fai, and Yuui, allowing Fuuma and Kamui's heated argument to fill the hall until...

"Fuuma! Stop your squable! We have to go!"

Fuuma's head turned toward the door and he nodded at Seishiro, "Be right there!" He turned to Kamui once again and placed his hand on the shorter man's head, ruffling his hair, "We can continue this later. See ya."

Kamui growled and tried in vain to fix his hair, "Stop treating me like a kid! I'm a hundred years older than you!"

Fuuma's laugh was heard throughout the hall as he went to the door, waved at Fai, Subaru, and Yuui, and then left.

"Kamui, come here and eat. Glaring at the door will do you no good. No matter how much you may wish it, your gaze cannot turn him into a pile of ash."

Subaru opened the door, peeked inside the library. "Fai?!"

From a table in the far corner raised his hand and waved slightly.

Subaru withdrew his head from the library and frowned at Seishiro and Fuuma. "And you say that he refuses to come out of there?"

"Well, it's not so much that he refuses to come out of the room as much as it's that he refuses to put the book down."

Kamui shook his head, "I don't see what's so bad about that. He's eaten, if he's hungry, he'll probably come out, and then go back into the room. Fai's a sensible person. He won't trash the library, it's not in his personality, and even if it was, Yuui's in there with him."

"Well..." Fuuma rubbed the back of his head a little, "I'm more worried about what he's picked up to read. He'll find out his rights as a human twin..."

"So?" Kamui folded his arms and glared a little bit. "It's his right. He's not going to be anything like Fei, and anything not like Fei is a good thing, correct?"

"Kamui...he reminds me of Fei as a teenager."

Kamui shook his head at Fuuma's words. "No. Fai is a completely different heir to the Suwa throne. Shall I name the ways?"

"Why don't you?"

"Fai's not common like Fei, Fai's royalty. Fai's genuinely powerful, kind, and intelligent. He's not a snob that drives other people away from him. Most importantly, Fai hasn't been alone all his life, and he never wants to be alone, he truly cares for other people. Fei was none of those things. Fai is completely different."

Fuuma frowned, "Are you saying you want him to find out? Are you saying you want him to take over this Suwa? A human trying to restore a world destroyed by another human?"

Kamui nodded curtly, "Yes."

From within the library Fai snapped the book closed and ran from the room, closely followed by Yuui. "Fai?!"

"He's hurt..." Fai leaned his head against the wall that was closest to Ceres. "He's hurt...I know he is..."

"Kurogane?"

Fai nodded against the cold stone. "His life is not in danger, but he's not in the castle, he's lost...he's tired..."

Yuui frowned and then came forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Fai's shoulders, "I'm sorry. I don't want him to be hurt...it's late though. Soon it will be dark and even with a dragon's eyes I cannot see well in the dark. In the morning I will take you back to Ceres. We'll look for him them. Okay?"

"Perhaps you're right, but I don't feel well about leaving him out there all night."

"Hey!" Fai stood up straight when Kamui's sharp voice spoke to him. "That servant of yours is stubborn, nothing short of a powerful magician or a dragon is going to kill him. He'll be just fine until morning. Why don't you back to reading your book?"

Fai took in a deep breath and shook his head. "I think I'm going to take a walk now. Clear my head."

* * *

"Are you positive?"

The man nodded, "The main house of royalty has a distinct air about them. A certain look. We definitely would have known if a prince had passed through here, especially a flaxen haired prince like Prince Fai."

Kurogane sighed and rubbed the back of his head. The man had a point, most of Ashura's children had something particularly strange about them. All of them either had a gorgeous face, light colored hair, a particular accent, or all of the above. In Kurogane's eyes, Fai was one of those children that had all of the above. Kurogane wasn't afraid to admit that he thought Fai to be an extremely good-looking man, and he definitely had the light hair, and both his former lack of speech and his current musical voice he was sure to stand out in any crowd. "Thanks. I guess I'll have to keep looking."

"If we see him we'll send someone to find you."

Kurogane spared the man a small smile and nodded, "Again, thanks. It'd make my life a lot easier to know if he's all right."

All Kurogane could keep thinking was that Fai was dead in a ditch somewhere, or locked up beaten or hurt. Every time he thought these thoughts a pain struck up in his chest that was so powerful it sometimes threatened to overwhelm him. It wasn't the feeling that if these thoughts ended up being true he would have failed at his mission in life, it wasn't the feeling that the king would be angry with him, it was the feeling that if he lost Fai he would have lost all his desire to live, for he had lost the person he loved.

The harsh reality had struck Kurogane recently, he was far more fond of the prince than a servant should be. He had realized that he saw Fai in a romantic light. He had realized this fact directly after he had kissed Fai at a party to make girls stop looking at _his_ prince.

At the time he had decided that one kiss could last him his entire life if he needed it to, and that he would never try to do anything to Fai, like the people in his barracks constantly told him he already did. Kurogane would never do anything to Fai. Never. Especially not now that Fai was lost and possibly hurt. If Kurogane ever found Fai he would give him a good wallop on the head for running off, or allowing himself to be dragged off, and then he would never let the blond out of his sight again. Even if he thought of Fai as his, Kurogane would be satisfied as long as Fai could smile and was safely near him. If Fai was near him in any way, Kurogane could protect him...protect him from things like this!

Kurogane let out a noise of aggravation as he left the town. He had spent the last thirty-two hours traveling across the two towns that were nearest to Castle Ruval. If Fai had been normally abducted or had simply just run off he would have been spotted in one of those two towns, but he hadn't. Not one person had seen him since Kurogane had left the previous morning to go to his training session.

It was getting late. The sun would soon be setting and then it would get dark. Kurogane knew that he should really set up a camp of sorts and start to look for Fai again when the sun rose. He knew that was what he should do, but he couldn't bring himself to rest while Fai was still out there.

Kurogane turned his head to look toward the forest. That was where he and Fai always went whenever Fai wanted to get away. Perhaps he was there. It was worth a try, after all he hadn't gotten any leads so far.

The guard turned and walked off the path toward the forest. The grass and dimming light quickly swallowed his figure as he walked.


	11. Chapter 9

A/N: Well, this took me forever. Probably because this was a dreaded chapter for me to write. It seems like I got stuck with a lot of fighting scenes in my fics and I hate those because I'm never satisfied with them.

Some of you are going to hate me at the end of this chapter, oh well! At least I'm still writing it!

Some of you may also find yourselves hating Yuui a little less. This is where his character development starts.

We're actually not too far from the end of the fic, surprisingly.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Yuui pulled his boots on and placed his hands on the edge of the table where Fai had his head down. For a moment he stared at his twin, then his eyes closed and he lifted his hands up only the bring them crashing down into the table a second later. As Fai's head jolted up Yuui's voice rung through the room, "Let's go!"

"Where are we going?"

Yuui huffed and placed a finger at the place where his heart should be, "You said Kurogane was in trouble, didn't you? We're going to go look for him."

"Why would you help me? You hate him."

Yuui shook his head, "I've never hated him, and even if I did I have my reasons for doing this."

Fai glared at Yuui with tired eyes, "Like what?"

The dragon's eyebrows turned upward and he moved his hand from the place over his index finger gently at Fai's forehead, "Because I want you to be happy."

For a minute there was silence, then Yuui and Fai's faces matched in that same upset expression. "I'm sorry. I snapped at you. I shouldn't have, you're just trying to help me."

A small smile came over Yuui's face and he allowed his finger to trail down Fai's face to his chin, "It's all right. I deserve it. It's not like I've exactly done my best to show you how much I love you. I have been selfish, and now I must atone for this, if that means taking you to Kurogane...so be it."

Fai reached up and grasped to Yuui's hand, and warmth flooded into Yuui's ice cold hand. "Thank you. You don't know how much it means to me. That you're helping me."

Yuui's fingers wrapped around Fai's in a return gesture. He knew that to his twin the smallest of touches meant nothing, and yet at the same time they meant everything. If he did not touch you, you were invisible to him, and that there was probably no way for him to acknowledge you. Yuui figured that Fai had grabbed habits like that from not being able to speak. If you could not speak you had to figure out other ways of communicating with other people. Touches had to make up a large part of these other ways.

"Don't mention it. I'm happy to do this for you."

* * *

Fai sighed, "There's only one direction he would have gone from here." The twins stood at the edge of town, facing the forest. The two of them had not even stopped at the castle, Fai was worried that if he did stop to explain that he had not really been eaten by wolves, or whatever the rumor was, that explanation would take a huge chunk out of the time they had to find Kurogane before Fai's increasingly worrisome theories came true. So here they stood after several hours of checking out the main parts of the town nearest to the castle.

"Er..." Yuui gently held onto Fai's arm as he stared at the forest, "Are you sure? We didn't spend very much time in town, perhaps we just missed him? Passed him by without noticing?"

"No," Fai shook his head. "I would have known."

"Even you can make mistakes."

"I'm sure." Yuui gazed at Fai with a look that clearly said he wanted to talk more on the topic. He wanted to convince the prince to go back to the town, but he clammed up, Fai had made up his mind and all he could do was follow. "He's got to be in there. There's no other place I would have gone, and thus there's no other place he would have gone."

"But Fai..."

"What?"

"There are _harpies _in there."

Fai raised an eyebrow, "Harpies?" Yuui nodded, "Kuro-pyon and I have been going to that forest since we were children and we've never seen any harpies."

"Well..." The golden-eyed boy made a face, "That's because you were children. Don't you know what harpies are?"

"Yes, of course I do. They are bird people who live in small tribes and are too primal to develop a civilization."

"Well, yes, technically that is correct, but that's too general. They're mostly women..."

"So?"

"So, if Kurogane went in there...alone, they probably took him, used him for all he's worth, and ate him." Yuui didn't look pleased at this like he might have when they were speaking of ill coming to Kurogane, on the contrary he looked rather upset, as if this were the worst possible fate a person could come upon. "I mean, they wouldn't harm children, but Kurogane's not a child anymore, he's almost full grown."

"But he's been almost fully grown for a couple years now, and we've never stopped going to the forest."

"But you were with him."

"But I left him alone plenty of times when I hid."

"But you were still generally with him. You expected him to come and go home with you."

Fai shook his head, shrugged, the magician obviously didn't understand what Yuui was trying to get at. So he had been with Kurogane all the times they had gone to the forest, what was the big deal? "So?"

"So...what happened when Subaru and Kamui hurt Kurogane?"

"I..." Then the answer seemed to sink into Fai's brain, "Oh. That would explain it."

"Yes...attacking him would incur your wrath, which would be counterproductive to their cause. It's not difficult to tell that you're very strong, so, they left you alone."

"But Kuro-chu doesn't have magic."

"Right."

"He could still be alive. In fact, it's quite probable that he's still alive, all I felt last night was that he was lost, tired, and hungry. At first I thought he might be injured or in pain, but he wasn't. I haven't felt anything since then, and I like to think I would know if he died, or was in great pain. Please Yuui, I can't just abandon him, even if I have to..." Fai clutched at his chest as if the very thought of the next words caused him pain. "Pick up his bones and take them home." Fai took in a deep breath, "Besides, I'm stronger than these creatures, right?"

"Yes. However, I might not be, and I'd be the first one they'd go for if we disturbed them."

"Why?"

"Human, harpy, dragon. Which two are most similar to each other?"

"I see. Well, you don't have to come. You're not the one who cares about Kuro-myu."

"But I care about you."

"Then I'll protect you."

"And yourself? And Kurogane?"

Fai sighed and reached up with one hand, placing it over his face. "Stop making it sound so impossible! I'm going, now you can either come, or stay." With that the young prince turned and began to march toward the forest.

"Decisions decisions..." Yuui said sarcastically as he watched Fai walk for a few moments and then ran after his twin. There was no way he was going to let him be taken by the harpies. He'd rather be burned alive.

* * *

"Do you sense anything?"

Fai's eyes opened and slowly he shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing more than the average animal, plants. I don't feel anything slightly intelligent on our level, and I don't feel Kuro-myu's presence."

"It's getting dark."

"It is."

Yuui looked at his twin seriously, "And you don't plan to give up? You don't plan to rest for the night?"

"Not until I find him."

"You really have a death wish, don't you?"

"No," Fai leaned forward a little bit and smirked at Yuui, "You do. You said the harpies won't come after me. I'm too powerful, but they'll come after you. You're still here."

"True..." Yuui tapped his foot. "I'm concerned for you, that's all."

"I'll be fine." The youngest prince of Ceres turned to go further into the forest, but then turned back and began to bolt in a different direction.

"Hey!" Yuui smacked his palm into his forehead, he loved Fai, but the boy was spontaneous and a hazard to himself at times. He no longer wondered why he needed someone like Kurogane to watch over him. If he didn't have someone to help him, he'd trip over his own feet. "Don't go running off! Where are you going?!"

"I felt him!"

"You did?!" The golden eyed boy ran after Fai. Fai had a good head start, but Yuui was faster. A dragon was faster than a human any day of the week. "Which way?!"

"Do you think I'm going this way for fun?"

Fai had him there. "How far?!"

"Not sure!"

"How did you feel him?!" Yuui caught up to Fai's side, reaching out and grasping to the magician's hand and urged him to go a little faster, if it was possible.

"Same way I did last night. I just know he's in trouble. He's in pain. Real pain this time. His leg."

Yuui frowned and continued to urge Fai to run forward even faster, but he quickly discovered that Fai wasn't nearly as fast and didn't have as much stamina as he did when it came to these tasks. Still they came upon a harpy not too long after that.

Yuui growled loudly and swung his clawed hands at the creatures back, causing a loud squawk and the harpy turned to glare at him. The dragon's eyes widened. Perhaps that hadn't been such a good idea.

As the harpy began to loom over him a loud whizzing noise sounded past his ear and a fair sized rock hit the bird-woman in the shoulder. "Hey! I'm much more entertaining to fight!" Yuui looked at Fai, who was straightening himself from finding and throwing the rock. His face wasn't angry, but determined as he gazed at the creature in front of him. He intended to fight, and win.

Just as the harpy opened her mouth to speak, or squawk, a response there was a loud, frustrated, and angry yell from not far away. Fai's head spun in that direction, and Yuui heard him breathe out Kurogane's name.

Yuui gave a small nod to say he understood. It was Kurogane's voice, and Kurogane was who they were here to retrieve. If Fai went and got Kurogane now, it would ensure that all three of them would be out of his forest quickly. That was fine with him. This place gave him the chills. He didn't understand how Fai, Kurogane, and possibly other children could even go into the start of the trees, let alone deeper. "Go on. Get him. I think I can take on one of these mutilated women."

Fai ran then. It was a forced run, his legs didn't want to move anymore, they just wanted to rest, Yuui was sure of that.

His golden eyes went to the harpy who watched Fai as he had a moment ago, moved forward slightly, as if to follow him, but then stayed still.

Yuui smirked, it was just as he thought. Harpies weren't dumb enough to go up against someone like Fai unless they had to. The harpy would much rather fight with a younger, less experienced, and weaker magic user like him.

The air between the two of them was still for a moment and then it started. He had to quickly step to one side as the harpie bolted toward him. He had moved too quickly and almost tripped over his own feet. This gave the harpy just enough time to recover herself and this time succeed in knocking Yuui to the ground.

Yuui struggled against the woman. He wasn't like Kamui or even Subaru. He had potential, but it hadn't been tapped yet. He hadn't been polished.

He kicked and pushed, just barely avoiding being killed by a simple cut to the jugular vein several times. He cursed under his breath and at last reached up to the woman's shoulder, raking his claws through it.

The woman shrieked and drew away from him. The boy scrambled to his feet. He couldn't just leave her like this, she'd follow him. It wasn't a fatal wound, it wasn't even enough to keep her down for long. Fai would disapprove him killing her. He made a frustrated sound. Yuui loved Fai. Yuui loved him more than anything else in the world. It would be so much easier, so simpler to just kill her while she was down, but Fai would disapprove.

He wouldn't make Fai unhappy. Not again.

He crouched down and then sprang toward, taking her down in the fashion that she had done to him. It was even more of a struggle to keep her down than it had been to get himself up. She kicked, thrashed, clawed, bit, slapped, and punched.

It was hard. It was much harder than the dragonlet had ever expected it to be. Kamui had always made fighting look so simple, and Subaru had always been so easy on him. It practically took all his skill to get his hands around her throat and to choke the air out of her.

Slowly, the kicks and thrashes stopped. Finally the woman stopped moving altogether and Yuui carefully let go of her neck. She inhaled.

He exhaled. Good. Fai wouldn't have to be angry. He had managed to just knock her out.

Now he just had to find Fai and his idiot servant before either one got themselves seriously injured.

He took off, one hand went up to his cheek and wiped away the blood that leaked from a thin cut that went from his earlobe all the way down to his chin. As far as he could tell it was the very worst of his injuries. He was lucky.

Fai wasn't so lucky and neither was Kurogane.

It had happened even before Yuui had gotten there. Fai's limp form leaned against Kurogane, blood dripped to the forest floor. Kurogane had his arm around the young man, but he too was injured. Just as Fai had said his leg had a huge gash in it, and now claw marked marred his arms.

Kurogane's injuries meant nothing to Yuui. His eyes took them in but all his brain processed was that Fai had fallen.

Without even knowing it the dragon's feet took him forward. He ran as hard as he could, tripping over two fallen harpies, and then just staggering back to his feet. The remaining harpies that were awake didn't seem to even move to attack as he crossed. Perhaps they had gotten what they wanted, perhaps they were waiting, perhaps they just didn't care anymore. It didn't matter.

By the time Yuui got to Kurogane and Fai's side, he was literally sobbing. "What did you do to him!?" He screamed at Kurogane. His claws itched to both take Fai from Kurogane and to kill Kurogane on the spot for letting whatever it was happen to his twin.

"What did I do?! Nothing! The idiot got hurt throwing himself in front of me!"

Yuui opened his mouth to scream again, but forced his lips shut and took a deep breath, the sobs quickly subsided, but they were replaced with tears. "Fine, we'll argue about this later." He turned to the harpies with such a glare on his face that several of them actually took a step back. "Do any of _you_ object to that?!"

A single harpy raised her winged hands in front of her, "None of you are of any use to us currently, come back when you're healthy again."

"We won't." Yuui forced Kurogane to hand Fai's limp body over. The sight made him want to vomit. Fai's eye...

"Give me your hand!" Yuui held his hand out desperately to Kurogane. This wasn't just some passing flesh wound, Fai needed to see Kamui and Subaru right away. Yuui couldn't be positive, but he had every right to think Fai's life was slipping as they stood there.

Kurogane gripped to his hand and Yuui activated a teleportation spell.

He had to hurry.


	12. Chapter 10

A/N: Well, another chapter closer to our finale. I actually think there's about two chapters left...maybe three if I decide to do an epilouge. I've been thinking about what I would do with an epilouge for a while now and all I'm getting really is mostly Yuui-based with a slight narrative from Fai. Well, if you so desire, tell me if you want an epilouge or not in your reviews. I usually listen to my readers...Usually.

Anyway, I'm very satisified with the first section of this chapter, but not so much the second. I'm sure it's just as well writen, but it seems to pale in comparison to me...esepcially the ending. Oh well, at least the ending gives way to the next chapter.

As always, read, review, and enjoy.

* * *

Kurogane paced back and forth in the room like a young husband waiting for the doctor to come out and tell him the gender of his new-born child. Yuui sat in a chair. The blond dragon was perfectly still except for his golden eyes that followed Kurogane's movements to and fro. They were both silent.

Kurogane blamed Yuui for Fai's condition, and he knew that Yuui inversely blamed him. The guard also knew that Fai didn't blame either of them for his state of being. Fai didn't blame anyone. It was just something that had happened to him in his eyes, and something that would soon pass. Kurogane could understand Fai's point of the view, but it didn't help. The thing that bothered him most was, yes it would pass, but it could pass in Fai's death.

Kurogane growled at this thought, and from the chair he heard Yuui sigh. "Go ahead," the blond said softly.

"Go ahead and what?"

"Blame me. Yell at me, scream at me."

Kurogane stopped and stared at the dragonlet. Yuui's face was completely serious, despite what he had just said. Kurogane scrutinized the younger twin. Was that really something Yuui would say? No, he decided, it wasn't. At least it wasn't something the Yuui he had known would say. Had the boy had a change of heart?

"No," Kurogane said at last. "I won't."

"Why?" The boy's eyes narrowed into a glare and he leaned forward in his chair. "Why not?"

"Would the prince yell at you?"

This question seemed to throw Yuui. He was silent for a long time, his face giving a small window of sight into his mind. At first he was confused, then suspicious, then curious. "No, he wouldn't."

"Then I won't either."

"You're not him," Yuui's voice was softer than it normally was when he spoke. For the very first time Kurogane could actually see where the two could be mistaken for birth twins as opposed to people forced together by...well however those dragon's eggs worked. "Kurogane, you are a completely different person from Fai. You don't have to act like he would in a situation like this."

"You're right. I'm not him. Who got hurt?"

"He did."

"Who's right is it to yell?"

There was another segment of silence. When Yuui spoke again each syllable was spoken very slowly, "It's his…"

"Right. I will yell, only if he yells, which I doubt he will." Kurogane reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. It felt stiff and sore. "It's his injury. His right."

"But you're worried about him...you...love him don't you?"

This time it was Kurogane's turn to create silence. "Yeah. I do. So what?"

"When a loved one is hurt, you have the right to yell. Out of worry."

"Then you could yell too. Going by that logic."

Yuui's eyes closed, he bit his lip, and he turned his head toward the ground. Both of them were silent for a very long time.

Yes, Kurogane did acknowledge that Yuui did love Fai. He acknowledged this almost as much as he acknowledged that Yuui had changed since Subaru and Kamui had taken him away for training. Kurogane could have said that Yuui loved Fai since the moment he'd hatched, that wouldn't be implausible, but thinking back to that time Kurogane couldn't say it was really love. The way he looked at it he saw it more as a possessiveness, almost as if he'd seen Fai as an object. It was much different now, that was obvious in not just his eyes, but in everything about the young dragon.

"You should be sitting." Kurogane spun to see the gentler of the two other dragons he knew, Subaru.

"Nevermind that!" The guard practically snapped at Subaru. "How is he?!"

Subaru's golden eyes closed and then slowly reopened. "At first we thought his eye had been completely gouged out. That...would have been bad. He would have died from shock. There would have been nothing we could have done...as you know magic originates in the eyes, so that also takes up much of the life-force..."

"Oh course, that's why blind people have such a short lifespan compared to those who can see...that obviously didn't happen, so it doesn't matter." Yuui waved his hand. "What did happen?"

"His eye is blind. His lifespan has been shorted. His magic is almost halved. He'll live, but he'll have to adjust. He'll have to rely much more heavily on you." When Subaru said 'you' he nodded his head toward Kurogane.

"Fine. I'll give him anything he wants."

"Then you can start by visiting him. He's pretty much out of it, but he moans your name a lot...and the one time he really woke up while I was treating him he screamed and struggled, saying that you were still out there," Subaru sighed. "He's more worried about you than he is about himself. He'll rest easier if he sees your face."

Kurogane nodded and left the room with a bow of his head. The castle was big and he needed an escort to practically everywhere within its wall, but he had memorized how to get from the room he had been staying in to the room Subaru and Kamui had been keeping Fai in.

The door to Fai's room creaked open and as quietly as he could Kurogane slipped in. He jammed his eyes shut at the sight of Fai. Subaru had done a good job with treating the wound, but the rest of Fai's body had been affected by the injury as well. His skin was more pale than usual, his hair was tangled, and the prince looked like he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in months.

Slowly Kurogane opened his eyes again and took a couple steps toward the edge of the bed. "Prince Fai..."

The eye that had not been bandaged opened, and, when that eye focused on Kurogane, Fai's body shot up. "K-K-Kuro..." Fai's voice was so hoarse, soft, and raw that Kurogane found it extremely hard to believe that the blond had only screamed in demand of him. "K-Kuro..."

"I have no right to say anything, but Prince Fai...Shut up." Kurogane couldn't stand the voice.

Fai face contorted in pain and he pulled himself to the very edge of the bed. Pale fingers reached out and clumsily grasped to the front of Kurogane's tunic. The hand was shaky but the arm behind it was strong enough to pull Kurogane closer to him. "Kuro...gane. Kurogane, you're okay."

It took a second for the full force of Fai's words to sink into Kurogane's skin. Very rarely had Fai ever called him by his full name, and although Kurogane had sometimes yelled at Fai for those names he knew that as long as Fai continued to call him those stupid and silly names everything was all right.

Fai wasn't calling him names, everything wasn't going to be okay.

Kurogane took Fai's hand and placed his fingertips in Kurogane's palm. "Prince...don't talk."

Fai's eye closed and his fingers began to move. 'Are you okay?'

"Yes. I'm fine."

'I was so worried.'

"You should worry about yourself. You're more important than me."

A tired and strained laugh escaped Fai's lips. 'To the country that is true, but to me you are far more important. I could not live without you.' Fai's fingers suddenly tensed and pulled away from Kurogane's hand. Both of the magician's hands went to the bandaged eye and his entire body shook.

"Prince!" Kurogane laid his hands on Fai's shoulders, "Are you all right? Do you need me to get Subaru?!"

Fai shook his head. "No...I don't want Subaru. Or Kamui. I don't want Father. I don't want Yukito or Tomoyo. I don't even want Yuui. I only want you. Please Kurogane, please...don't leave me..." The bout of pain seemed to pass and the youngest prince of Ceres allowed himself to be pushed back into a lying position. "Promise me Kurogane..."

"Why?"

The look of pain on Fai's face increased tenfold and he lifted one hand up to Kurogane's face. His fingertips slid down from the servant's temple to his lips, "Because...because I love you."

Kurogane's eyes widened. Subaru had said Fai was out of it, but was he really this out of it? Or did he mean it? "Kurogane...please don't stare at me like that...please...just answer me. Do you love me too?"

There was a very long pause. Kurogane's mind battled with itself, back and forth, but eventually one side won, "Yes."

Fai gave an audible sigh of relief and his eye closed again. "I'm so glad..." the hand that pressed its fingers against Kurogane's lips fell limp and the arm fell against the bed. Fai had fallen back asleep. It seemed that Subaru really was correct, now that Fai knew Kurogane was safe and well he had drifted back into the land of dreams.

Kurogane stared at Fai's face for a long time. At last he leaned down and brushed his lips against the blond's. Yes, he truly did love Fai, but even if Fai's love wasn't just a delusion of his pain it would never work. A prince and his servant? His male servant no less...the other royals would never allow it.

Kurogane sighed and stood up straight again. He opened the door and found Yuui waiting right outside. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough. If you hurt him I will kill you." Yuui allowed the words to hang in the air for a moment before he spoke again. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, but don't expect to get an easy kill."

"I don't." Yuui turned his head to one side. "Just...take care of him. Make him smile again."

"I will."

"Good." The young dragon closed his golden eyes and began to walk down the hall. "Come on, it's time for dinner."

* * *

"You don't have to be so careful. I'm not going to fall apart."

"Shut it, Prince, knowing you, you just might." Really, it wasn't the thought that Fai would crumble in his fingers that made Kurogane hesitate to take off the bandages that had surrounded Fai's head for almost a week. What made Kurogane hesitate was the fear of the sight that lay beneath the bandages. Would there be scarring? Would Fai's now sightless eye be a completely different color? What would happen?

"Kurogane, if you don't hurry up, I'm going to do it myself." The guard turned his head to glare at Yuui, who glared right back.

"Fine!" The young man growled as he fiddled with the well tied knots Subaru had left in place. Slowly the bandages slipped away to reveal the damage that had been done. As far as Kurogane could tell there was no scarring, and the eye itself was only a lighter shade of blue. Even though the eye could not see when Fai's other eye moved, so did it. Even though Kurogane knew that something awful and traumatizing had happened to that area of the face, it was hardly noticeable.

"Well?" Fai's hand gripped tightly to Kurogane's shoulder. "Well? How does it look?"

Kurogane smirked a little bit, "Just as good as you always have, if not better." He leaned forward into Fai's face, gently taking the prince's lips with his own. When Fai willingly returned the kiss Yuui made a slightly disgusted sound and quickly removed himself from Fai's side.

When Fai pulled his face back he tilted his head and gave a small smile. "Does it really look all right?"

Kurogane nodded, "What surprises me most..." he ran his thumb across Fai's eyelid, causing the prince to close the eye completely. "Is that there's no scarring at all."

"That's because Subaru is good at what he does." Yuui returned to Fai's side again and moved Kurogane's hand out of the way so he could look. "It's a shame he couldn't restore your eyesight, but at least he could do this for you."

"I suppose that's true. I'll get used to it. The hardest thing will be my depth perception."

"You'll get used to that too, at least that's what Subaru says."

"I hope so." Fai turned to smile brightly at Yuui, but his gaze only lingered on his twin for a moment, then it returned to Kurogane. "We need to go home soon Kurogane."

"Yes, we do."

Fai let out a long sigh and intertwined his fingers with Kurogane's. "Yuui?"

"Yes Fai?"

"Would it be possible for us to go home right now?"

"Yes, but why?"

"We've been away for far too long. The longer we wait, the less resolve I'll have to actually do it, and we need to go home. The imbalance is in Ceres."

Kurogane could hear Yuui sigh, "True...I'll send us there. All three of us."

"All of us?" Kurogane knit his eyebrows. "You're coming too?"

"Of course, it's partly my responsibility to find the imbalance."

"He's right Kurogane. Let's just go."

As soon as Kurogane nodded Yuui slipped one hand onto both Fai and Kurogane's shoulder. Kurogane braced himself. Magic still made his stomach queasy, especially the kind that caused them to disappear from one spot and reappear in another place. He could feel the magic creep over him and he closed his eyes as if that would help.

When he reopened his eyes, the three of them were standing the middle of the throne room in Ceres. He felt like he had been in this exact spot before, but he had no time to think of exactly when he'd stood there before Fai stepped forward and pointed at his father. "Father! I've put it off long enough."

Ashura smiled at his youngest son, apparently not at all surprised to see his son and two other people (including a boy who looked like his son) appear in front of him. "Put off what?"

Fai closed his eyes. "Father, we need to talk."


	13. Chapter 11

A/N: I don't have much to say here except that I believe I lied last chapter. Next chapter will not be the last chapter in the main story. I wrote this chapter and I decided that I needed more...chapter space. Oh well, worse things have happened.

This entire chapter happens from Yuui's point of view, even though only the second part really applies to what happens to him. I'm really starting to be evil to Yuui...perhaps not quite as evil to him as CLAMP is to most of their characters, but I'm starting to think I'm getting up there. I should stamp out that habit before it really takes root.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Yuui's golden eyes scrutinized Ashura. So this was Fai's father. This was the man who had killed so many people simply because they did not possess magic. This was the person had taken away Fai's voice for so many years. Yuui knew all this and more about the king of Ceres, and yet Yuui looked at Ashura and couldn't truthfully say that he hated him. In fact, he could honestly say he already liked him more than he liked Kurogane, although that wasn't saying terribly much.

"Now Fai," Ashura began, "You disappear for almost two weeks and when you finally come back to us, the first thing you say is that you and I need to talk?"

"Yes."

Ashura gave a small noise that sounded like it was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. "Well, I suppose it's better than you not coming back at all. What is it that we need to talk about?"

"Your power." Yuui looked at Fai's back. Instantly, he noticed a slight trembling in Fai's frame, but somehow Fai's voice sounded stronger than Yuui had ever heard it sound. "You have too much of it, and you abuse your power more than any ruler should. Something needs to be done about that."

"Oh?" Ashura leaned forward on his throne and smiled slightly at his youngest son. "Why do you bring this up now?"

"This is Yuui." Fai turned to Yuui and pulled the dragonlette forward so that they were on equal ground. "He hails from Suwa. Can you tell me what is so strange about him?"

"He looks almost exactly like you."

"Yes," Fai nodded. "He's my twin. My other twin if you will. Yet we are different species, a dragon and a human magician."

"Balance keepers."

"Correct." Fai's voice almost seemed to falter for a moment. Yuui opened his mouth to give his twin the encouragement he seemed to need to keep the conversation going. Before a single syllable left Yuui's lips Fai started speaking again. "While I was gone I spent most of my time in Suwa. A good chunk of my time in Suwa was spent in their library reading their books. I found something."

"What did you find?"

"When the current king dies, Yuui and I will become the kings of Suwa."

"And?"

"And I assure you that when I become one of the kings, we will not balance with Ceres...with you. One of us will have to go, and I assure you father, I will strike first." Yuui became more and more surprised by Fai's words the more he spoke. Would Fai really fight against his own father over something that seemed as small as balance?

"Do I detect a hint of treason?"

"No," Fai said firmly. "You are detecting loyalty. I am loyal to Ceres at the moment. I am its prince and that will never change, but if I am to be a king, you need to know what I will do to keep peace and balance. If keeping those things requires me to take you out...So. Be. It. There are two other options. Change your ways to match mine, or step down and let Akira take over. Akira's ready."

"You've changed in the two weeks you've been gone."

"Change brings change. No one can avoid change, not even you. You must decide."

"Well said, Fai, or should I say well played? I do believe that I have been checked. Very well. I will think it over. Stay and relax for a few days. I will have a room made up for Yuui in the castle."

Yuui turned his head to steal a glance at Fai. His face was one of surprise, it very clearly asked, 'Was it really that easy?' Yuui was sure that it wasn't simply that easy. Ashura had said he had been checked, but not checkmated. There would come another talk, just not yet.

* * *

It was a knock on Yuui's door that awoke him from his sleep the night after Fai and Ashura had their talk. Yuui lifted his head off the pillow and glared at the door through the darkness. It was late. Yuui was tired and wanted to sleep. Who wouldn't want to sleep after a day like his? He was more than certain that Fai was fast asleep in his room and that the same was true of Kurogane down in his barracks. "What?" The dragonlette groaned.

"The king has sent a summon for you, Yuui of Suwa."

Yuui let his head fall back into his pillow. "This late at night?"

"Yes sir."

Yuui rolled his eyes and was very tempted to tell the servant to tell Ashura where he could put his summon, but that wouldn't be very fair to the servant, who was probably just as upset about being up this late as Yuui was. The young dragon got up. His boots making a soft sound as they hit the ground, for the blond had not even bothered to change before falling asleep. "Coming..." Yuui opened the door to see that the servant was a boy who was just as old as Yuui.

"Y-You really do look just like Prince Fai...but you're voice...is different."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not completely sure why myself, although I have a couple theories. Just take me to where Ashura summons me, okay?" The servant hastily nodded and led Yuui from the room. He was taken down several flights of stairs, through many halls, and past what seemed like hundreds of doors before the servant stopped in front of the plainest door of them all.

"Here, he waits for you inside."

Yuui bowed his head as respectfully as he could manage and waved his hand rudely at the servant. "Thank you. I'll go inside from here. I can get back by myself." The servant just nodded and rushed down the hall.

Yuui stared at the plain door for a minute or so. Most of the doors were at least painted, if not carved or embellished. This door was simply wood, sanded smooth and then stained to prevent damage, but that was all. The young dragon wondered if that was a sign to indicate that whatever was behind the door was more extravagant. He shook his head, there was no way to know until he opened the door and found out for himself. Without further hesitation Yuui reached out, opened the door, and stepped inside.

The room that lay behind the door seemed to be no more extravagant than the door that led to it. The walls were clean and white. The floors seemed to be made of the same wood as the door itself. The only furniture in the room was a table and chairs. On the table were several plates of food, and King Ashura himself sat on one of the chairs. "Ahh, Yuui. I was beginning to wonder if the servant I sent had gotten lost on his way."

"No," Yuui cautiously closed the door behind him as he began to walk deeper into the room. "I was just a little bit difficult about getting up from bed so late." It was really late. Yuui's eyes flickered to the walls to see where the source of light in the room came from. There were no torches. Now Yuui realized what was so great about this room. The light came from the walls themselves. Magic. It was magic that made the room special, not decoration.

"Ahh, so you are the exact opposite of Fai, aren't you?"

"That's the way it's supposed to be. Especially with twins like us."

Ashura smiled in a pleasant manner before he gestured to the chair beside him. "Won't you sit?"

The golden-haired boy raised an eyebrow at the chair and shook his head slightly, "I'd rather not."

"Oh come now, I won't bite. Honestly, I didn't get to talk to you much during the conversation I had with Fai earlier and thought that it would be a good thing to do."

Still Yuui shook his head and refused the seat Ashura offered to him. "You do know that Fai meant every word of what he said. You have too much power, and if you don't mend your ways he will take it away when he gets to the throne."

"When you both get to the throne," Ashura corrected as he picked up a grape from one of the plates and ate it. "Won't you at least eat something?"

"No. Fai doesn't trust you. I don't either."

"You aren't thinking for yourself, Yuui. You don't trust me simply because Fai doesn't trust me. Fai has reason to not trust me. I've never done a thing to you."

"You've hurt Fai, and you aren't going to mend your ways."

Ashura ate another grape. "No, I won't mend my ways, at least not until the time is ripe. It's not ripe yet Yuui. I'm still just a balance. I still have to be that balance, unless you and Fai want more work to do before you can take your proper places."

Yuui knit his eyebrows. The way Ashura spoke was like the way Kamui and Subaru spoke. The words all carefully chosen, the tone speaking of things that they knew, but you didn't. Yuui didn't like it that Ashura spoke that way. If Ashura knew something, he wanted to know too, he wanted Fai to know too. Yuui wanted that, but he was no fool in matters like this. Yuui could have had a silver tongue and it wouldn't have gotten more information from Ashura than what Ashura wanted to give. "What about Fai? Do you deny hurting him?"

"Not at all. I have hurt him on many occasions, but it led him to you, now didn't it?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Did it?"

Ashura nodded, "It did. I killed his twin, the non-magical one. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have come about. I gave him Kurogane in exchange for his voice, he needed a temporary companion, or he might not have made it to the age of getting you. I let him run about freely, even though I did know he left the castle, waiting for you to come into his possession. I even set it up so that the imbalance would be perfectly felt when it came. Although neither you nor Fai has figured it out yet. I have led you down the path to where it all needs to be. Yet...you both are ignorant yet."

Yuui gave a short dry laugh, "Well, even if that was all true, there is one thing that you miscalculated on."

"And what would that be, Yuui?"

"Kurogane is anything but a temporary for Fai. He's the most permanent thing in his life."

"No, that would be you."

"No. I'm very temporary to Fai. If you were to kill me right now Fai wouldn't bat an eyelash."

Ashura paused. His face seemed to change from its normal smug smile to something more of a sympathetic pout. This was something that surprised Yuui a little. Ashura seemed the type to not care about anything but himself, and while Yuui did not hate that about the king, it was not something Yuui ever expected to fade away, even for an instant. "You love him very much, don't you? Even more than a normal dragon loves their twin star."

Yuui turned his head away from Ashura so that he did not have to look at the man's face as he said his next words. "He is the heart that beats in my chest, both my physical and emotional core."

"But he will not have you."

"He loves another, and I cannot blame him. Who would want to love me? I'm nothing, not in the past, not in the present, and not in the future am I anything. I'm not even a momentary breeze over the oceans waves." This was not the first time Yuui had thought such thoughts. The more he thought them, the more he found them to be true. He was just a selfish and stubborn little brat, a child. He was useless, harmless, his entire life was meaningless. Everything he tried to do backfired at him. Not only could he not have the one he loved, he couldn't even protect him. Yuui couldn't make Fai smile or leave him unharmed. Yuui couldn't even make Fai's life a little easier. Kurogane could do all that and more. It made his heart want to bleed. It made his eyes want to cry rivers, but they didn't. He always stopped himself. Crying over this only made him more of a selfish brat. It didn't matter anyway...no one would answer his tears. There wasn't a person in the universe who would ever care about him.

Yuui took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. With it left some of the tightness that filled his chest, but the sorrow did not leave with it. "I have nothing left to say to you, King Ashura. I take your leave."

The dragonlette turned to the doorway and reached out to turn the doorknob, but Ashura's voice stopped him. "What if I told you that I know where the imbalance is, what it is, how to get rid of it, and that once you get rid of it, Fai will be all yours."

Yuui's hand sped up to his chest, clenching the object beneath his tunic. "Lies, King Ashura. All lies. Not only could you not possibly know about the imbalance, but getting rid of it would not place Fai before me. Not willingly."

"Oh, but it would. Would you like to hear, oh heartbroken child?"

Yuui snorted, trying his very best to keep his rough outer appearance, even though he was sure the truth that lay beneath that outer appearance had already been revealed. "All right. I'm listening."

"The imbalance is a feather. A feather that possesses great power. A power to give someone what they are lacking in, but what they need. This feather currently resides within Kurogane's being. It gives him the magic he needs to give Fai his voice back and to remain alive. It doesn't give him the knowledge he needs to use the magic, but it's there. Clear as day. There is only one way to get rid of the imbalance. Kill the one who uses it, and the feather will die with them."

Yuui's eyes widened. "You mean..."

"Yes. In simplest terms, Kurogane is the imbalance. You and Fai are destined to kill him. Yes, Fai loves him, and with his death Fai will fall into your arms...and once he does he'll never leave."

Yuui stood in the same spot for what seemed like eternity. It seemed all so easy, and yet impossible. It was horrible. The very thought was awful, terrible, nasty, and dishonorable. That wasn't the way he wanted it. No. Perhaps it would get Fai to come to him willingly, but it was trickery all the same. It wasn't right. Most of all it certainly wouldn't make Fai happy.

After the moment of eternity Yuui clenched his fists and shook his head. "Lies..." he whispered.

"What was that, Yuui?"

"_LIES_!" Yuui screamed, his golden eyes glaring over his shoulder at the king before his hand grabbed the doorknob. "I refuse to believe these silver-tongued words you spout! I'm going to bed! Good night!"

The door roughly opened and then slammed shut as Yuui passed through it. He stormed down the hallway, not entirely sure that it was the way back to his room and not really caring if it was. The only thing his mind could focus on were the words Ashura had spoken to him. It was horrible. It was even more horrible because Yuui really did believe these words, they made sense. They made perfect sense and it was awful. This wasn't what he wanted...

"Yuui?" the dragon's face looked up from the ground at the soft voice. It was Fai, a magic orb of light floating above his hand. Beside him stood Kurogane. "What are you doing up so late?" The prince put his fingers to his lips and chuckled slightly. "Oh, I suppose I should answer the same question, shouldn't I? Well, I never sent Kuro-chan back to barracks, so I was going to escort him to the door and go to bed, but you...I thought you would be fast asleep by now..."

The golden-eyed boy didn't really listen to any of the words Fai said. His eyes remained on Kurogane the entire time. Slowly he shook his head. Ashura's words becoming more and more firm the longer he looked at the guard. At last he jammed his eyes shut and rushed past the two. "Yuui?! What's wrong?!"

This time the boy did hear his twin's call, but still did not answer it. He could not bear to. How could he even face his twin, his love, with such thoughts in his mind about the one his twin loved? It was wrong!

His feet did eventually take him back to the room he had been given and he opened and closed the door. Once he was safely inside his feet gave way beneath him and he collapsed to the ground. His eyes stared blankly at the floor. It was awful. All of it. The words that Ashura told him, the fact that be believed the words, and the fact that they were probably true. Now his situation was even worse than before. He was in love, the person he loved didn't love him back, his twin probably didn't care about him, or even worse, hated him, he couldn't do anything to help his twin, there was another person his twin loved, this person the person he loved could do everything he couldn't, and now...this person was fated to die by their hands. What was worse? Unrequited love? Or knowing that your love will be returned, only when you take away what they loved more...and always know that you're still not their favorite...that you're no one's favorite and never will be?

Yuui brought his knees up to his chest and hid his face in them. A sob escaped his lips, and this time he could not hold back the tears that came to his eyes. All night he sat there with tears falling from his face like rain, and just like he'd always thought; tears were useless for him...because no one came to answer them.


	14. Chapter 12

A/N: I warn you now, there is an OC in this chapter, in the next chapter, and probably in the chapter after that (if there is a chapter after that). I also tell you now, this chapter is the only chapter he's a main character in. I originally planned for said OC character to be...very minor, appearing only in the epilouge if I wrote one. I started writing this chapter and realized I needed him here too. I fail at keeping my story plots in line... To avoid the OC I even considered completely skipping this chapter, and going onto the next one, but then I realized that doing that would leave a bit of a hole in the plot, and I consider that worse than using an OC. It was a lesser of two evils! If it bugs you that I used an OC, consider this a type of filler chapter and come back next chapter when he appears only once.

That being said, I do not own this OC (who is named Mine). He belongs to a friend of mine, and I asked to borrow him for this plot. Mine is not meant to be likable by any means, that's not what I aim for in writing him in here. He's really...just a developed plot device. I hope I used him well.

Also, I am conducting an experiment. This chapter is not beta'd, as an attempt to get back on top of my posting. I ran through it myself with a fine-toothed comb, and I hope it's not too bad as far as spelling and grammar go.

Lastly, this is the last chapter that will be told mostly/completely from Yuui's POV. Next chapter we go back to focusing on Kurogane and Fai's POV.

I really did spend a lot of time on this chapter, and I hope it shows.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Once again it was a knock at the door that got Yuui up from his bed. He hadn't fallen asleep, but when the sun had started to rise his tears had finally stopped falling and he had dragged himself over to his bed. The boy didn't feel like getting up. In fact Yuui didn't feel like doing much of anything. He wasn't sure what Ashura's intent had been last night, but regardless of what the intent was Yuui felt horrible about it. All of it.

Slowly the young dragon sat up and stared at the door for a moment. "Yes?"

A frustrated sigh came from behind the closed door. The voice was much different than the servant's voice. "Hurry up. I don't have all day. I'm to take you down to the dining hall."

"I'm not hungry."

"I don't care if you've just eaten a feast! I'm taking you down there! I am not about to waste my time telling the royal brats that you're too lazy to go down there!"

Somehow the harsh voice reminded him of a typical dragon. In fact this tone was very much like the one he remembered that he used when he was first hatched. Was this person a dragon living in Ceres? This thought was the driving force that actually got him out of bed and got him to open the door.

One look at the man's eyes told Yuui that this wasn't a dragon. Every dragon had golden eyes, but this man had bright, bright blue eyes. They were so blue that the young dragon wouldn't be surprised if they actually glowed in the dark. Once Yuui soaked in the man's eyes he looked at the rest of him. Short snow white hair hung about his face in a sloppy mess, his mouth was turned into a scowl, the overall appearance of his face told Yuui that this man appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He wore a black coat that hung about his knees, and his pants and boots matched. Tucked under one arm was a leather bound book.

The man huffed and placed his other hand on his hips. "You're Yuui?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Yuui raised an eyebrow at this man and folded his arms across his chest. "Yes. Why? Do you think I'm Prince Fai?"

"Well, I was at least expecting someone who looked like Fai. You don't look like him at all."

"What do you mean? I look exactly like him!"

"Not at all. Sure, you have the same pale complexion, but a lot of people do, and you have the same yellow hair, but a lot of people have that too. You're exactly three and a half inches shorter than Fai, and your features are more rounded than his. Your waist is also more slender."

"Are you accusing me of being more feminine than Prince Fai?"

"No. Just stating facts. You look nothing like him. It's not an insult. Don't take it as one." The white haired man bent down and inspected Yuui closer, causing Yuui to lean away from him. It was creepy. "So you're Yuui...Nice to meet you. I'm Mine."

"A pleasure I'm sure..."

"This way then." Mine swiftly motioned down the hall and Yuui began to walk with him.

As they walked the pain started to drift back into him. The pain from last night and the possible truth that it brought. Yuui didn't want to walk into the hall with Fai there and all this pain plain as day for him to see. His golden eyes glanced up at Mine. Perhaps talking to this rude and observational man would keep it at bay long enough for them to get to the dining hall. "Mine?"

"Yes?"

"I don't remember ever seeing you in the castle before."

Mine chuckled. The chuckle instantly reminded Yuui of Ashura, if Ashura were to chuckle. It was low, mocking, and somewhat evil. "I've been in the castle since before Fai was born. I was Akira's teacher, and now I'm Tomoyo's. I briefly taught Fai, but he didn't like me much so we...lost touch. I admit, I also didn't have the patience to deal with his inability to talk at the time."

"What do you teach?"

"Nature's Intent."

Yuui raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"How things work...when magic doesn't screw it up."

"I...see..." Yuui paused. He supposed he had always known that without magic that things would still have a way of working, but he had never given any thought to how it worked. He wondered how Mine had come to be interested in it, but did not ask about that. That was for Mine to know.

"That doesn't explain why I've never seen you before."

"Oh, I suppose it's either because we never crossed paths in the halls before, or because I wasn't here at the time. Don't think about it so much. I'm sure there are lots of people in the castle you've never seen before. Some you never will."

Yuui thought about that. The castle of Ceres wasn't as large as the one in Suwa, but there were more people in Ceres than there were in Suwa. It made sense that there were people he hadn't met, and it made sense that there were people he would never meet, such as the people who worked in the kitchen. "Will I ever see you after this?"

"Probably. Once you meet someone they seem to be impossible to throw off. I wouldn't be surprised if we run into each other several more times today, let alone during your stay."

As Mine fell silent Yuui looked down at his feet. For a second he said nothing, and then he took in a deep breath and said, "I look forward to it."

"To what?"

"Seeing you again."

Mine chuckled again, and as Yuui looked up at him he saw the white-haired man shake his head. "So polite. Silly boy, I know no one wants to see me."

At this the dragonlette frowned. Sure, Mine seemed to be a bit mean, sarcastic, and perhaps strict, but the boy thought that saying no one wanted to see him was a bit extreme. "What about a lover?"

"I don't have lovers, I have victims." Mine said coolly, smiling down at the boy as if he were daring him to continue.

Yuui's frown deepened, he wondered what Mine meant by victims, but the want to find someone who cared about Mine was greater. "Parents? Siblings?"

"Parents, dead. Sister, murdered by Ashura for having no magic."

"Friends?" Yuui said in a last ditch effort. No lover, no family, surely he had at least one friend!

"I don't have friends, I have victims." Mine rolled his eyes as Yuui opened his mouth to say something more. "My students don't count, they would be victims too if Ashura weren't king. Now, I will see you later, here is the dining hall." The man sighed as he pushed Yuui's shoulder into a door and then mockingly bowed toward Yuui and continued on down the hall.

Yuui scowled at Mine as he walked away. He was incredibly rude! Even so, Yuui did wish to see him again later. He was rude, sarcastic, and cold, but Mine would talk to him, and Mine's words had at least temporarily taken away the pain of Ashura's words. Oh yes, Ashura's words. Yuui's heart seemed to sink right down to his diaphragm when he remembered them. His chest tightened again and his face relaxed from the scowl into a meek pout. He wished he had never heard those words.

The blond dragon opened the door to the dining hall and stepped inside. Ashura was not at the table. Instead sat Fai, a girl Yuui assumed to be Tomoyo, and and two other males who were several years older than Fai. "Ah! Yuui!" Fai smiled and waved. "Come sit!"

Yuui smiled a little nervously, but sat beside Fai and modestly took a piece of fruit from the bowl in the center of the table. He was a dragon, and would have preferred meat or eggs to the fruit, but wasn't going to complain, not at this moment. "Did you find your way here?"

Yuui shook his head at Fai, "No, a man named Mine showed me the way here."

Yuui immediately noticed the glances all the other occupants of the table exchanged. At last one of the older males spoke, "You're lucky he didn't make you one of his victims."

The dragon looked at the man. He had to be Akira. He looked nothing like Fai, or Yuui himself. He had black hair, and by looking at him he seemed to have a sly, but gentle demeanor. Mine had said at that Akira had been his student. Akira would know. "Is he a bad person or something?"

No one answered. Yuui waited for a long time for the answer, but neither Akira, or anyone else at the table would speak a word about Mine.

After a while Yuui let the subject drop at that and took a bite out of the fruit he had taken. The taste of apple filled his mouth. A bit of sour and a bit of sweet were there and then nothing as he swallowed. He didn't like it. He much preferred meat, but again, he wouldn't be rude and ask for it. He ate the apple slowly, watching the other people who sat at the table. Fai ate 'normally' and would occasionally whisper things into Yuui's ear. The middle male, who Fai said was Kazahaya, ate very quickly and excused himself from the table the same way. Tomoyo and Akira ate slowly and elegantly, and then waited until Yuui's apple was gone and Fai's plate of food was empty before getting up.

"Have a good day," Akira said with a charming smile.

"You too." Fai returned, and the two black-haired people excused themselves from the hall, leaving only Yuui and Fai.

"So..." Fai began after a time of silence. "Last...night..." Yuui watched the way Fai's eyes avoided looking at him. The prince wanted to talk about this just about as much as he did. "What's wrong? Or...what was wrong?"

"It doesn't matter." Yuui said instantly. It didn't matter, not for Fai. Yuui would take care of this himself. It would be done without Yuui or Fai having to harm a hair on Kurogane's head. No matter how miserable it would make him for the rest of his life, he would ensure Fai's happiness. That was all that mattered. Fai didn't need to know about this, and it was probably best that he didn't know.

"It does matter." Fai frowned at the dragonlette and grabbed his hand gently. "If you're in pain, I want to know about it. You're precious too, you know that, don't you?"

If Yuui was precious he certainly didn't feel like he was. Still, he nodded at his twin and sighed. "I went for a walk last night after I had a nightmare, I don't remember what it was now, but I saw you and Kurogane and...I panicked, guess I was still half asleep." Yuui waited anxiously for Fai's reaction, and felt a wave of relief wash over him when Fai nodded and bought his lie.

"I guess I can understand that. You're sure it's nothing more? Stress maybe?"

"No. Nothing."

Fai sighed, seeming to want to believe it, but not quite actually believing it. "All right...Do you want anything more to eat?"

Yuui smiled sheepishly. "Fai, I'm technically a carnivore."

Fai's face fell, and then he laughed. "I guess the apple really didn't do much for you then, did it?"

* * *

"I told you." Yuui turned away from the clear blue sky that the balcony showed him. Leaning against the doorway was Mine, his mouth curled into a smirk.

"Told me what?"

"That we'd meet several times today now that we've met." The white-haired man moved from the doorway, allowed the door to close, and stood beside Yuui, his elbows resting against the railing. "It's a lovely day out. Don't you want to fly?"

"Fly?"

"Dragons fly, don't they?"

"I haven't grown my full set of wings yet."

In the moment of silence that followed Yuui looked at Mine's face. He seemed to not know how to respond to Yuui's response, and in the end only said, "Ah." Another moment of silence followed and Yuui realized how awkward the silence was. He was perfectly comfortable here, even though he knew that other people were uncomfortable even mentioning Mine's name. The blond dragonlette figured that it must have been Mine who was making the air still.

"What brings you up here?"

"Hm?" Mine clicked his tongue. "I like some normal things too. I'm not completely evil."

"What makes you think I think you're evil?"

"The fact that you have inevitably spoken to someone other than me since I escorted you to the dining hall. Surely they told you I'm unorthodox, that I'm crazy, tend to harm people, while Ashura allows it all to happen under his nose?"

Yuui blinked, and took the information in as if it were as simple as his favorite color, "I have yet to see you do anything evil."

Mine chuckled. Yuui looked at the man and narrowed his eyes. Why was Mine chuckling? It irked him. There was no reason for this man to be chuckling. All he had done was state something completely obvious and true. "Why are you laughing at me?"

"So pure..." Mine's chuckle became louder, and the louder it got the more it irked Yuui.

"What?"

"Your words, they are just pure. Only a pure person would judge someone based solely on what they see with their own eyes."

Yuui growled, "I assure you, Mine. I'm not so pure."

Mine's chuckle quieted down, but the smirk that accompanied the chuckle stayed there, as if it were plastered onto Mine's face. "What makes you think that?"

Yuui paused, what did make him think that? His thoughts. That had to be it. The thoughts he had of Fai, and how he was jealous of Kurogane, and how selfish he was to be in pain because Fai would never think of him as his favorite, and how...and how everything just hurt. "Love. Pain. Jealousy. Pride. Selfishness."

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow at Yuui as if he did not believe the words spilling from the youth's mouth. "You're right. Those are all things that cause impurity...if used in the incorrect way. I can't see you using any of those to the point of being impure."

"Explain that to me. How can those things be pure in any way?" Yuui could see love being pure, Fai's love for Kurogane and vise versa was clearly pure and true, but his love...? Not so.

"So demanding. Just like a prince..." Mine teased Yuui and turned to face the boy, one finger on one hand reached out to Yuui's face and trailed from his temple all the way down to his chin. "Love must be blind obsession to be impure. Pain must be petty. Jealousy must be unjust. Pride must be excessive and unrelenting. Selfishness," The man let his finger move from Yuui's chin to his lips, "Must be about money and objects. Not people. Can you honestly tell me that you fit any of this criteria?"

Yuui thought about it, and when he had his answer he breathed it out against Mine's finger. "Yes. My pain is petty."

Mine tsked, "I think you just think your pain is petty."

"Then that just shows how much you know."

"So pure," Mine repeated as he chuckled. "Okay. So your pain is petty. In your eyes. Change it. If you're in pain you need something. What do you need?"

"How do you know if I need something or not?"

Mine sighed impatiently and moved his hand so that it was completely covering Yuui's mouth. "Because, I am a person driven by only needs. If I have everything I need, I don't have pain. You have pain, so you must need something, now spit it out!" The white-haired man moved his hand away from Yuui's mouth and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I...want..."

"I'm not interested in want. Want is not need."

Yuui sighed, "I need to protect Fai."

Mine nodded, "All right. What do you need to accomplish that?"

Yuui thought about that. What did he need? A miracle? Somehow he did not think that Mine would accept that answer. "I...need to better at magic." Yes, that would certainly help him in his cause. Perhaps if he was better at magic, he could at least protect Fai from any hostile dragon attack. "I guess I need to start with that."

"Just magic?" Mine shook his head a little, "Okay, that can be arranged."

"Well, I suppose, I could always go back to Suwa and have my teachers..."

"Wouldn't Prince Fai wonder if you went back?"

"I suppose..."

"Then stay here and learn."

Yuui rolled his eyes a little bit. Mine said that as if it were the simplest thing in the world. To tell the truth, Kamui didn't like it here, and Subaru wouldn't go against Kamui, at least not about something like this. "My teachers aren't here. I can't learn."

"Can you only learn from those teachers?"

"No, of course not, but I don't have a teacher here."

"Ah, but you need a teacher here."

"So what?"

Mine laughed, it was like his almost evil laugh, but there was something different about it. Yuui couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was somehow warmer, more friendly. "So? I can do magic. I can teach you."

"But why would you?"

"You're interesting. Just like you need to protect your twin, I need to know more about you."

"But why?"

"Because you're interesting. I need to know what makes you interesting. So. I will teach you, if you will tell me more about yourself. Really, it's to your advantage. You get to learn how to protect Prince Fai, and yourself if I ever decide you're my next victim. I only get information..." Mine held out his hand to Yuui, "If you really need to help your twin while keeping him oblivious, you'll shake my hand and accept my deal."

Yuui stared at the hand suspiciously for a moment, but then sighed. What did he have to lose? Only Fai and his happiness, and if he kept this up, he would lose Fai's happiness for sure. This man was annoying and quite possibly evil, but he could help him. Besides, Mine was right, if he went back to Suwa before everything was solved Fai would wonder. He didn't want Fai to wonder about anything until he had actually decided what to do about the imbalance. He shook Mine's hand. "All right. Teach me."

* * *

"You're up here again," Fai closed the doorway to the balcony and sat beside Yuui. "You like it up here, don't you?"

"It has a nice breeze," Yuui admitted softly. "It sorta reminds me of Suwa. The landscape doesn't look like Suwa, but the wind reminds me of it a little."

Fai's eyes gazed at Yuui for a moment, "I'm keeping you here, aren't I? If you want to go home to Suwa, then you should go. I can just come get you if we find the imbalance."

Yuui smiled, that was so like Fai. So kind, so understanding. It'd been several weeks since they'd come back to Ceres. Fai and Kurogane went out almost every day to go searching. They often took a horse or two with them. Fai always came back exhausted. Sometimes Yuui went with them, but Mine didn't like it when he did. Mine said that their trips took almost the entire day (which they did) and that if Yuui wanted to do something productive then he should stay at the castle and practice his magic.

That was what Yuui did most of the time. He stayed at the castle, followed Mine around like a puppy, and practiced his magic. It was worthwhile. He had gotten better at magic. He had also decided exactly what he was going to do next. "I am going home."

"When?"

"Not sure. When it feels right."

Yuui turned his head and stared at Fai. The sun was just setting, it glinted off his twin's hair, and illuminated his smile. Yuui's smile became a bit brighter as he was reminded of his goal. Protect Fai, even if that meant destroying his own happiness. Every time he thought of that pain swelled in his chest, but it was lesser now, like he knew his pain was worth something.

Fai took in a deep breath and let it out in the form of a soft sigh, "Well, when you do go back, be careful. Subaru and Kamui are bound to be upset by now."

"Nah, if they were upset, they would have come and hauled me back by now."

"Ha, that does sound a lot like Kamui, and I can just see Subaru following in toe."

"Yes, that's pretty much what I envision too."

Fai bit his lip now. The smile faded away from his face. "I...heard you've been spending a lot of time with Mine."

"Yes. So?"

"He's not a good person, Yuui. Father keeps him here because of his unique interests, but he's...violent, and brutal."

Yuui shook his head, "Perhaps, but he's been teaching me magic. He doesn't hurt his students."

"Magic? Really? H-how is that going?"

Yuui chuckled. He could tell that Fai was trying to be supportive of him, despite the fact that he didn't like or perhaps feared Mine. "It's going really well! I have control of five types of magic now. Fire, air, shadow, sense, and water."

"That's...great. I heard Mine was pretty powerful, although not as powerful as the royal family. I could sense it too, the few times I had class with him. I didn't think he could teach magic though. He's not that interested in it."

"He's a good teacher. I don't have to read it from books, like I did with Subaru, I learn through watching and trial and error, I think that works better for me."

"Good. I'm glad. I was really worried."

"You were worried?"

Fai nodded, "Of course. You're spending time with Mine, you're not coming with Kuro-tan and I to search. I was starting to worry that you were depressed about something and that you were trying to get Mine to kill you. Silly thought but I kept worrying about it and the more I worried the more likely it seemed to be true."

"It sounds like you. You don't have to worry. I won't die until I accomplish my goal."

"What's your goal?"

Yuui smirked. "It's secret."

A loud bell rang out over the castle grounds. Fai sighed, "The dinner bell. It's late today..." The young prince stood to his feet. "Are you coming today?"

Yuui shook his head. "No. Mine's coming to teach me. You'll pass him on your way down the stairs."

"Okay, I'll see you later tonight then?"

Yuui closed his eyes. "Yes." It was a lie.

"Be careful with Mine." This was the last thing Fai said before he went though the balcony door and on down to dinner.

Yuui sighed, for all he knew, that would be the very last time he ever saw Fai. He'd already made up his mind.

Not long after that the door opened again. It closed gently, long fingers pressing softly against the door. The fingernails on the hand were perfectly clean. Before he had met Yuui, Mine's fingernails had often been stained with blood, but now the need to harm others was no longer there. Just so long as he saw Yuui every day Mine could be normal.

The man turned out to the balcony and leaned against its edge. He could practically smell that Yuui had been here minutes before, but Yuui was not here now. Mine could only assume the boy had gone back to Suwa...to do something stupid, just like pure people always did.

He closed his eyes. His needs conflicted with one another here. He needed to respect Yuui's wishes, but he also needed the boy's safety. He silently wondered which one he needed more.


	15. Chapter 13

A/N: This is the last full chapter. The next chapter is a short scene that takes place a few days after this chapter. I feel so...tired right now. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm getting ill. It's possible...I've basically been quarantined for most of the winter, so I haven't gotten ill yet, but I always get sick at least once a year.

Back to the story though. For those of you were expecting more of a climax; sorry. This is it. This is how I've been planning the end since Chapter 4, this is how it's going to be done now. I never planned for there to be any big dramatic fight ( I think the actual Tsubasa storyline spent enough time on that, don't you? ) this is just...it. Even with the imbalance. This is all I had planned. Sorry if that disappoints any of you. I'm pleased with it at the very least, I just hope the majority of you are too.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Fai could not sleep. Despite the fact he was in Kurogane's arms, it was early in the morning, and he was really very comfortable Fai could not sleep. He worried. He worried about Yuui. Ever since they had come back from Suwa, Yuui had been acting differently. No, perhaps it had started even before that. Perhaps it had started right after Fai's eye had gotten injured. Either way it had gotten steadily worse after they had come to Ceres.

He didn't like it, yet he didn't know what to do about it. What was worse was that Fai could not sense Yuui's presence in the castle. It had been that way from the time he had gotten to dinner the night before. Fai did not know where Yuui was. He could only hope for the best at this time, and tell himself that his twin would contact them soon.

The prince gave a small sigh and shifted his position slightly. He closed his eyes. He could have to get up soon, he should try to get at least a little sleep.

There was a knock at the door. Fai jumped. Kurogane jerked awake.

Quickly, Fai sat up, stood up, and rushed to the door. It was so early. Who could possibly be knocking at this hour? His unvoiced question was answered the moment he unlocked and opened his bedroom door. Of all the people he might have expected, he had expected Mine the least. That did not change the fact that before him stood Mine, glowering ever so slightly at Fai. "G-good morning, Mine," Fai said with a fake yawn that turned into a real one halfway through. "What can I do for you?"

"I have information that you need to know."

Fai raised one eyebrow at him. Fai knew that Yuui trusted Mine. Fai didn't trust him. Perhaps Fai was capable of trusting Mine less, but he was most certainly not one of the people he trusted the most. "What information would that be?"

Mine's glower changed into what seemed to be a slightly worried look. "Yuui is in Suwa."

"Is that where he is?" Fai felt a little bit of relief. If Yuui was in Suwa, then he had probably just decided it was time to go home for a while. There was nothing wrong with that.

"Yes, but I don't think it's anything to smile about. I didn't know Yuui before he came here, but somehow I get the feeling he hasn't always acted the way he's acted the last couple of weeks, am I right?"

Fai bit his lip softly. He didn't like the way Mine's words were going. "Yes, he has acted differently since he got to Ruval Castle. What about it?"

"When I first started teaching Yuui, I taught him under the agreement that he would tell me things about himself. One of the things he told me was that he considered you his most precious person, and that he felt the need to protect you."

"I need to protect him too. What about it?"

Mine shook his head, "You don't understand. He doesn't need to just protect you from bodily harm, he needs to protect your heart too." The white haired man folded his arms over his chest. "I also felt that every time I would teach him something, that he wasn't all there. I felt like part of him was off somewhere thinking, planning. My suspicions are usually right."

Fai sighed. The more that Mine spoke, the less he liked it. "So?"

"So, if he's left your side to go to Suwa, then he's putting whatever that plan is, into action. It doesn't matter if that plan could get him hurt or killed, he'll do it, probably because he feels that it'll help you!"

Fai frowned now. He wasn't exactly sure if he should trust Mine with this, but his words made sense, and Mine had been with Yuui the most these past weeks. Besides, what reason did Mine have to lie right now? "Why tell me this?"

"I can't get to Suwa. You can. You can help him. Drag his ass back here. You may not believe it, Prince, but I care about that boy. He's pure...like freshly washed linen..." Mine's voice drifted off for a moment before he shook his head and spoke again. "Purity like that is so rare. I don't want to lose that."

"You're doing something for someone else? That's a step forward for you, Mine."

"Don't mistake my intentions. I'm still the same. Bring him back," Mine said the last part as though he were Fai's superior, and then turned around and walked back down the stairs without another word.

Fai frowned as he closed the door. It was possible that Mine was completely wrong, but it was also possible that Mine was completely right. He didn't want to take the chance of Mine being right, and him not doing a thing about it. The prince took in a deep breath and crossed back over to his bed, where Kurogane had settled back down after the initial shock of being woken up. "What's going on?" He asked, his red eyes gazing up at Fai in a displeased manner.

Fai tucked a bit his hair back behind one ear and leaned down to kiss the side of Kurogane's head. "We have to pay a trip to Suwa. We should get going as quickly as possible."

* * *

Fai looked around the room. It seemed like both nothing, and everything had changed. The table waqs in the same spot, and so were the chairs, bookcases, and even the books were probably in the same spot they were last time he'd been in this room, but it was somehow different, somehow darker. At the table Subaru and Kamui sat, both with expressions that expressed worry.

As they approached the table, Subaru looked up at the pair and forced a smile. "Hello, Prince Fai, Kurogane. What brings you here?"

"Actually, we've come for Yuui. He disappeared late last night, and well, after talking to someone this morning..." Fai rubbed the back of his head nervously, not trying to make it sound like he didn't think the pair of dragons couldn't take care of Yuui if he dropped by. "I'm worried about his safety. Silly, I know, but..."

"Not silly," Subaru's golden eyes looked down at his hands as he wrung them over and over. "We saw him come. We talked, and we went to our rooms, and then...when we got up this morning..."

"He wasn't anywhere to be found," Kamui finished for his twin. "We've looked everywhere in the castle. We know he's here somewhere, we can sense that much, but we don't know where."

Fai frowned. It looked like Mine was right after all. "Are you sure you've checked every room?"

Kamui nodded, "Every room."

"Well..." Subaru shook his head slightly. "Every room except the throne room and Fei's bedroom, but why would Yuui be in either of those places?"

Fai shrugged a little, "You tell me." The prince bit his lip lightly. He was really starting to get worried. He too, could sense that Yuui was in the castle, yet these two couldn't find him? It was odd. Too odd. What was Yuui up to?

Kurogane sat a hand on Fai's shoulder. "It doesn't matter why that kid would be there. All that matters is that he might in fact be there. If he's no where else in the castle he's got to be in one of those two places."

Fai nodded. Kurogane was right, the why didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that Yuui was probably in one of those places, and if what he had heard about Fei was in fact true, it was a very bad idea for Yuui to be there. "We should go check."

Kamui and Subaru looked at each other for a long moment, and then stood up simultaneously. "Follow us."

Both Kurogane and Fai did follow them. It was a long way. Fai had forgotten how huge this place was. Much larger than Ruval Castle, yet they met no one at all in the hallways. Fai remembered that the busiest time in the castle was about lunch time, that was when you were most likely to find...anyone. The thought made Fai wonder if while humans were thriving and growing in Ceres, dragons were dwindling and dying in Suwa. He knew that the dragon race had never been huge, but surely it had once been more populated than this.

Fai could tell when they got closer to the throne room, the hallways widened, and the walls on either side of them had tapestries and paintings. Nothing was bland as they got closer. It seemed like no expense was spared.

The dragon twins stopped in front of a pair of doors that were both twice and tall and twice as wide as the twins were. "Here," Kamui said, placing one clawed hand against the edge of one door. "I'll let you in, but you check to see if Yuui's there, if he is, grab him and leave, if he's not, just leave."

Fai knew that Kamui was normally a very serious person, but now it seemed like it was not just Kamui being serious, it seemed like he was giving Fai information that could possibly save his life. Was Fei really that powerful? That evil? Dangerous? He couldn't take the them lightly, the twins knew Fei better than he did, after all, Fai had never met him, the twins had. He nodded, and Kamui pushed the door open just enough so that Fai could get in without having to squeeze through.

Once he passed through those doors everything happened so fast that Fai wasn't even exactly sure what had happened. There was a flash that completely blinded him for a moment, then he felt a pair of hands push on his side gently, yet harshly. He heard a sound that sounded like something hitting metal, and then the sound of something going through something much softer. He felt that same pair of hands grab to his wrist. His arm was yanked and he heard the person next to him fall to the ground.

He leaned, blinked, and squinted his eyes. Next to him was Yuui, that's who's hands had pushed him, and held to him even now as the dragonlette lay unmoving against the ground. He couldn't see very well, whatever the flash had been was still affecting the vision he had left, but even with eyes that could not see properly Fai could see blood blossoming over his tunic.

Fai's eyes widened. His heart skipped a beat, and then began to beat even faster than before. This was no dream. He looked up, to see what had done this, and all he saw was the figure of a elderly man, Fai could tell he was very skilled in magic, but he could make out no details. He grit his teeth as his heart rate jumped even higher. That had to be Fei. Fei had done this.

Fai looked back at Yuui. That didn't matter. Fai could not fight Fei now. He couldn't fight him with only one eye and half his lifespan. Fai had to get Yuui out of here. Yuui needed attention, now. Fai wasn't strong, but he grasped at Yuui's wrists, just as Yuui still grasped at his wrist and began to drag the boy back out of the room. As he did so he heard footsteps. The prince was sure that they were Fei's footsteps. He hurried. "Close it!" He yelled anxiously as he got the two of them out of the door's pathway.

Kamui immediately obeyed. Fai heard and felt both Kamui and Subaru creating a spell. He wasn't sure what spell it was, and he didn't really care which spell it was. All he knew was that Yuui was still unconscious and bleeding. The bleeding was getting steadily worse as the seconds slipped by.

"That won't hold him long."

"I know, Subaru. I will go fetch Seishiro and Fuuma." With that, Kamui's footsteps took off down the hall.

Fai felt Subaru kneel next to him.

"What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about that now, worry about him. What happened?"

Fai shook his head, "I'm not exactly sure. I know I stepped inside and before anything at all could register I saw a flash, Yuui pushed me out of the way, and then collapsed in this condition." Even after he stopped speaking he kept on shaking his head back and forth slowly, but he wasn't really aware he was doing so. He just wanted Yuui to stop bleeding. There was so much blood.

Subaru nodded and pulled at the folds of Yuui's bloody clothing. After a few moments he pulled a chain from underneath the tunic. "Isn't this...yours?" Subaru asked as he handed it to Fai. Fai took it. It was his. It was the pendant music box that Kurogane had given him. It was different now though, it had blood on it, and right one side to the other there was a hole. It was clearly broken now. He sat it gently in his lap.

"Whatever spell Fei used," Subaru said softly as he inspected the wound that caused Yuui to bleed so much, "It hit that, and probably lessened the impact of the hit. That's all I can say about it though. Lessening the impact will not save his life. I...I can stop the bleeding from the outside, but underneath his skin, I can't tell. Either way...I'm almost positive he will still bleed to death."

Fai jammed his eyes shut. He couldn't believe it. It hadn't been that long ago that he had only been hatched...and now he was dying. His life had been even shorter than his original twin...not even a year. How much of an idiot was he? To let not one, but two twins die? It was his fault again. He should have seen it sooner, that Yuui was planning something, or that Yuui was going to do something he shouldn't have. Yuui was just that kind of person, to always charge straight ahead, and yet he hadn't seen it. He had to have someone else push him in the right direction...when it was already too late.

Fai gripped tightly to Yuui's hand. He didn't want him to die. He bit his lip as hard as he could without making it bleed and held back tears. He was such an idiot. Why hadn't he held onto Yuui like he should have? Why hadn't he paid more attention?

He felt Kurogane's hand grip his shoulder firmly, in an attempt to comfort him. Fai both tried and failed to smile, and reached up with his other hand to let his fingers touch Kurogane's.

Something activated. Fai could feel it. It was not just magic, but raw power. It came...from Kurogane. Fai knew it did. It crept in through Fai's fingers and washed over his entire body, encasing him in warmth. He felt more power leave him from the hand that held onto Yuui's hand. There was...so much power... Fai had never felt it before, but he felt like it was somehow familiar, like something he had brushed against long ago...

He did not dare to even breathe. He just let this power flow. The prince knew that warmth such as this could not harm anything, despite how much power was there.

Then, as quickly as the power had come, it left, and without its warmth Fai felt cold.

He opened his eyes. Something was different. For a moment Fai looked around, trying to figure out what was different, but it quickly sunk in. Both eyes. He was seeing with both eyes again.

His eyes darted to Yuui. The blood was still there, staining his clothes, but the dragonlette was breathing easier now, like he was just sleeping. Fai let go of Yuui's hand and lifted the stained tunic to look at where the wound should be. It was gone.

"Fai?" Kurogane's voice asked, "What was that?"

Fai sat back for a moment, trying to think of the answer that he was not quite sure of himself. That power...it had been such a great power, what could it have possibly been? He closed his eyes for a moment, and like magic, the answer came to him.

He smiled. "It was the imbalance."


End file.
